University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Gift  of 


JOHN  B.  GLEASON 


n 


1  (TIM  El 


ILLUSTRATED 


£inc 


FROM  DRAWINGS  TAKEN  ON  THE  SPOT, 


BY  JAMES  SMILLIE. 


DESCRIPTIVE    NOTICES, 


BY  CORNELIA  W.  WALTER. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    R.    MARTIN,   46   ANN-STREET. 

1850. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  tl,«>  \rar  l<-i7, 

BY    ROBERT    MARTIN. 
la  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York 


THE 


OF 


AMERICA. 


MOUNT    AUBUKN. 


MOUNT    AUBURN. 


"  Here  I  have  'scaped  the  city's  stifling  heat, 

Its  horrid  sounds,  and  its  polluted  air  ; 
And,  where  the  season's  milder  fervors  beat, 

And  gales  that  sweep  the  forest  borders,  bear 
The  song  of  birds  and  sound  of  running  stream, 
Am  come  awhile  to  wander  and  to  dream." 

[BRYANT. 

"  And  northern  pilgrims,  with  slow,  lingering  feet, 
Stray  round  each  vestige  of  thy  loved  retreat, 
And  spend  in  homage  half  one  sunny  day, 
Before  they  pass  upon  their  wandering  way." 


THE  beautiful  forest-tract  which  has  been  chosen,  by  so  many  of  the 
citizens  of  Boston  and  its  environs,  as  a  fitting  spot  to  be  the  last  rest- 
ing-place of  the  living  when  dust  shall  be  returned  to  its  original  dust, 
has  emphatically  a  history  of  its  own — a  history  not  more  of  data, 
possession,  and  original  ownership,  than  of  thoughts  and  contempla- 
tions. An  unwritten  history,  it  is  true,  it  must  ever  be ;  but  if  those 
thickly  wooded  vales,  yet  fresh  with  the  growth  of  centuries,  could  be 
endowed  with  language,  many  an  ethical  and  pathetic  story  could  they 
tell.  Volumes  of  varied  material  might  they  give,  woven  of  the 
heart-thoughts  of  countless  wayfaring  pilgrims,  who  have  sought  a 
couch  and  canopy  under  the  spreading  branches  of  the  umbrageous 
trees,  to  meditate  on  present  plans  and  future  prospects,  ere  launching 


6  Mol  NT   AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED. 

their  barks  upon  the  oceau  of  life,  and  whilst  nerving  themsi'lvi-s  to 
lirca-t  the  adverse  billows, — hoping  to  float  calmly  upon  prosperous 
waves,  ••  Anticipation  shadows  forth  enjoyments  which  we  never 
realize ;  and  though  hope  should  lill  the  chalice  to  overflowing,  disap- 
pointment may  draw  olV  its  waters  whilst  our  parched  lips  are  quiver- 
ing at  the  brim."  Happy  hours,  however,  dwell  in  the  memory 
precisely  as  man  has  passed  through  them ;  and,  as  "a  thing  of  beauty 
is  a  jov  forever,"  so  those  periods  of  meditation  which  have  heen  de- 
rived from  the  enticements  of  Mount  Auburn,  will  remain  constantly 
fixed  in  the  recollection,  as  bright  oases  in  the  pilgrimage  of  life.  \Ve 
have  heard  of  a  venerable  octogenarian,  who  for  sixty-five  years  made 
annual  visits  to  this  seat  of  many  a  boyish  ramble,  every  summer 
bringing  with  it  an  increase  of  pleasure,  even  as  time  brought  to  the 
old  man  a  decrease  of  strength.  But  the  pleasure  was  in  contempla- 
tion ;  the  gratification  was  derived  from  his  better  views  of  life.  In 
youth  he  sought  the  rustic  spot,  to  chase  the  gray-squirrel  from  her 
nest, — to  gather  wild-flowers  midst  the  dark  green  woods, — or  to  carve 
his  name  upon  the  bark  of  the  noble  trees,  in  a  vain  reaching  after  im- 
mortality ; — in  middle  life,  he  found  yet  other  pleasures  amid  strange 
vicissitudes ; — and  in  old  age,  he  had  learned  the  lesson  that  "  he  who 
anticipates  the  enjoyment  of  high-raised  hopes,  builds  castles  in  the 
air,  calculates  on  a  meteor,  anchors  in  a  cloud."  He  had  "  a  hope  full 
of  immortality,"  and  ere  he  drew  his  last  breath,  he  saw  the  scene  of 
his  wanderings  converted  into  a  field  of  the  dead !  Then  he  deeply 
realized  that  "  all  that  we  behold  is  full  of  blessings,"  and  he  felt  again 
a  fulness  of  joy, — 

"  Knowing  that  Nature  never  did  betray 
The  heart  that  loved  her." 


MOUNT   AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED.  7 

Life  is  full  of  changes ;  and  Mount  Auburn  itself  is  an  illustration 
of  a  change.  A  fairy  region  it  has  seemed  to  the  traveller  and  stu- 
dent, who  have  sought  its  sequestration  for  the  purposes  of  intellectual 
indulgence ; — a  terrestrial  paradise  it  has  proved  to  all  seekers  after 
the  beautiful  in  nature ;  and,  so  enticing  have  been  its  groves,  its 
scenery  and  associations,  that  it  received  long  since,  the  significant 
appellation  of  "  Sweet  Auburn" — a  name,  as  yet,  unforgotten,  though 
innovation  has  been  at  work,  and  the  favorite  resort  of  the  promena- 
ding explorer,  the  inviting  ground  of  the  botanist,  the  charmed  retreat 
of  the  thoughtful  student,  has  become  dedicated  earth — a  consecrated 
spot — a  rural  cemetery — a  "  garden  of  graves  !"  Who  now  will  enter 
such  a  place,  without  the  joy  of  elevated  thought  1  FAITH  interfuses 
itself  throughout  the  whole  of  being,  when  we  contemplate  man's  fu- 
ture destiny,  and  the  soul's  immortality ;  and,  in  walking  abroad  with 
nature,  amidst  the  graves  of  a  departing  generation,  there  is,  in  the 
language  of  Wordsworth, 

"  A  motion  and  a  spirit  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thoughts 
And  rolls  through  all  things." 

The  eye  of  the  mind  never  wilfully  blinds  itself  amidst  such  a  scene. 
Our  very  faith  gives  to  us  an  awakened  sense,  and  we  are  again  well 
pleased,  with  the  poet, 


to  recognise 


In  nature  and  the  language  of  the  sense, 
The  anchor  of  our  purest  thoughts  ;  the  nurse, 
The  guide,  the  guardian  of  our  hearts,  and  soul 
Of  all  our  moral  being." 

That  which  was   once    an   unappropriated  woodland,   known  as 


8  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

"  Stone's  Woods,"  and  more  lovingly  designated  as  "  Sweet  Auburn," 
has  become  a  burial-place  for  the  dead,  having  a  peculiar  affinity  wiih 
the  spirit-land,  even  while  amidst  the  very  rank  and  range  of  mortal 
being.  The  acacia  and  the  willow  now  emulate  each  other  in  their 
melancholy  offices  of  love,  and  gently  bend  over  the  graves  of  the  loved 
and  lost,  as  they  were  wont  to  wave  over  the  brow  of  contemplation, 
and  they  now  shed  the  dew  of  morning  and  evening  upon  the  monu- 
ments of  genius,  as  they  erst  have  shaken  off  the  sparkling  drops  upon 
the  mighty  men,  of  which  the  enduring  stone  has  become  the  meet 
memorial. 

And  it  is  indeed  a  fitting  spot  for  such  a  purpose.  The  place  which, 
as  we  have  shown,  has  so  courted  the  repose  of  the  living,  seems  nat- 
urally to  be  appropriate  for  the  sepulchre  of  the  dead.  The  sombre 
shade  of  its  groves,  the  solemn  calm  of  all  things  around,  appeal  to  the 
religious  sense,  and  strike  upon  the  mind  as  God's  appointed  indica- 
tions of  a  "  field  of  peace ;"  and  the  everywhere  pervasive  quiet  is  as 
an  heaven-destined  consecration  for  that  "sleep  which  knows  no 
waking." 

And  now,  let  us  look  again  around  us.  We  gaze  upon  the  monu- 
ments, mounds,  and  tombs ;  we  read  the  inscriptions  and  epitaphs  with 
a  pleasant  feeling  of  veneration  and  reverence  for  those  who  have  de- 
parted life  in  our  own  day  and  generation.  The  rural  cemetery  of 
Mount  Auburn  is  too  newly  planned  for  old  associations  ;  and  we  wan- 
der over  the  verdant  earth  which  encloses  so  much  of  recently  departed 
life,  with  a  tide  of  rushing  recollections.  Not  as  the  traveller  or  mod- 
ern Roman  walks  amongst  the  burial-ways  of  ancient  Rome,  and 
passes  by  the  "nameless  monuments  of  nameless  existences,  long  since 
gone  out  amid  the  perpetual  extinguishment  of  life ;"  but  with  a  deep 


MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED.  0 

and  clinging  interest,  as  though  we  walked  amongst  a  multitudinous 
kindred,  and  held  high  and  ennobling  converse  with  the  beatified 
spirits  of  those  cherished  ones  who  are  not  lost  to  us,  but  only  "  gone 
before."  It  is  hallowed  ground  on  which  we  tread,  and  the  deep,  dark 
wood  is  holy.  The  monuments  of  Mount  Auburn  mark  an  earthly 
sepulchre ;  but  the  spot  itself,  with  its  abundant  and  impressive  beau- 
ties, is,  as  it  were,  the  inscribed  Monument  of  Nature  to  the  never- 
fading  greatness  of  the  supreme  Judge  of  both  quick  and  dead — the 
invincible  Arbiter  of  our  fate,  both  here  and  hereafter !  Heathen 
must  be  that  heart  which  does  not  worship  the  Almighty  amidst  these 
consecrated  fanes.  To  the  true  imagination,  God  should  be  seen  in 
the  bright  light  which  beams  in  the  noontide  over  those  wavy  forest- 
trees;  he  should  be  heard  in  the  wind-murmurings  which  make  the 
leaves  rustle,  and  sway  the  tender  grass ;  he  should  be  felt  "  in  the 
sorrows  which,  to  the  heart  of  sympathy,  are  living  all  around  us,  in  the 
gentle  sighings  of  bereft  companions  and  friends !" 


MOUNT    AUBURN    CEMETERY. 


WE  are  "  strangers  and  sojournera"  here.  We  have  need  of  "a  possession  of  a  bury  ing- 
place  that  we  may  bury  our  dead  out  of  our  sight."  Let  us  have  "  the  field  and  the  cave 
which  is  therein  ;  and  all  the  trees  that  are  in  the  field,  and  that  are  in  the  borders  round 
about ;"  and  let  them  "  be  made  sure  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place." 


IT  appears  from  the  various  published  records,  and  it  is  gratefully 
admitted  by  a  more  than  satisfied  public,  that  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery 
owes  its  origin  to  DR.  JACOB  BIGELOW,  of  Boston,  the  present 
president  of  the  Corporation — a  gentleman  who  early  became  im- 
pressed with  the  impolicy  of  burials  under  churches  or  in  church- 
yards approximating  closely  to  the  abodes  of  the  living.  By  him 
the  plan  for  the  rural  cemetery  was  first  conceived,  and  the  first 
meeting  on  the  subject  called  at  his  house  in  November,  1825.  The 
project  met  the  favorable  consideration  of  his  friends,  among  whom 
were  various  individuals,  whose  judgment  in  such  matters  was  kinwn 
to  be  correct,  and  whose  influence  proved  to  be  effective.  Included 
in  the  number  were  the  late  Judge  Story,  the  late  John  Lowell,  Esq., 
the  late  George  Bond,  Esq.,  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  Wm.  Sturgis, 
Esq.,  Gen.  Dearborn,  Nathan  Hale,  Esq.,  Thomas  W.  Ward,  Esq., 
Samuel  P.  Gardner,  Esq.,  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  and  others. 

No  suitable  place,  however,  was  fixed  upon  until  nearly  five  years 
afterwards,  when  Dr.  Bigelow  obtained  from  George  W.  Brimmer,  Esq., 
the  overture  of  tin-  land  then  called  "Sweet  Auburn,"  for  the  purpose  of 


MOUNT   AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED.  11 

a  cemetery.  The  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  was  established 
in  1829,  and,  whilst  in  its  infancy,  and  when  the  project  for  the  cemetery 
also  was  but  in  embryo,  it  was  thought  by  the  parties  concerned,  that 
by  an  union  of  the  objects  of  each,  the  success  and  prosperity  of  both 
would  be  finally  insured.  The  Horticultural  Society,  after  due  con- 
sideration, decided  to  purchase  the  land  of  Mr.  Brimmer  (then 
comprising  about  72  acres)  for  $6000,  and  it  was  determined  to 
devote  it  to  the  purposes  of  a  rural  cemetery,  and  experimental 
garden.  The  ground  was  enclosed  and  consecrated  in  September, 
1831.  The  Experimental  Garden,  owing  to  reasons  unnecessary  to 
introduce  here,  was  subsequently  relinquished ;  and,  after  a  certain 
time,  the  proprietors  of  the  Cemetery  lots  resolved  to  purchase  the 
land  from  the  Horticultural  Society,  and  to  appropriate  its  whole 
extent  as  a  place  of  interment.  This  arrangement  was  amicably 
made,  and  an  Act  of  Incorporation  by  the  Legislature  was  obtained 
by  the  new  proprietors  in  1835,  by  which  the  Cemetery  is  exempted 
from  public  taxes,  and  its  management  vested  in  a  Board  of  Trustees. 
From  this  moment  the  enterprise  prospered,  as  so  admirable  an  un- 
dertaking, and  one  so  entirely  divested  of  all  selfish  interests  of 
pecuniary  gain,  might  be  expected  to  do. 

The  Rural  Cemetery  of  Mount  Auburn,  in  Massachusetts,  has  been 
the  example  and  pattern  of  every  similar  institution  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  commenced  long  before  any  other  was  thought  of. 
and  it  has  struck  a  chord,  the  vibrations  of  which  were  destined 
to  be  felt  throughout  our  country. 

Besides  the  very  important  business  of  laying  out  the  ground  in 
avenues,  paths,  and  lots,  it  was  a  part  of  the  original  design  to  build 
a  suitable  gateway,  a  building  for  the  superintendent,  a  strong  and 


]2  M01NT    A I  Bl  UN    ILLVSTKATKD. 

durable  enclosure,  a  chapel,  and  an  observatory  on  the  top  of  the 
highest  eminence  :  to  procure  tin-  draining  of  some  of  the  low  land, 
so  as  to  make  it  available  for  cemetery  purposes,  and  to  amass  a 
permanent  fund  to  keep  it  in  good  order.  Most  of  these  objects 
been  attained,  as  our  after  pages  will  show,  and  a  permanent 
fund  may  be  considered  as  already  secure.  Enough  money  to  have 
formed  such  a  fund  has  already  been  received  over  and  above  ex- 
penses ;  but  it  has  wisely  been  thought  advisable  for  the  present, 
to  appropriate  such  surplus  to  those  permanent  and  utilitarian  im- 
provements, which  would  exhibit  this  pattern  Cemetery  to  the  world 
as  a  great  and  laudable  undertaking — a  wholly  successful  enterprise. 

Ever  since  the  first  incorporation  of  the  institution,  much  of  its 
care  has,  by  the  Trustees,  been  vested  in  the  discretion  of  Dr.  Bige- 
low,  and  by  him  the  designs  of  the  stone  gateway,  the  iron  fence,  and 
the  new  chapel,  have  been  made. 

That  admirable  man  and  eminent  jurist,  JOSEPH  STORY,  LL.D.,  was 
the  first  President,  and  gave  his  influential  support  to  the  establish- 
ment during  its  infancy.  He  delivered  the  consecrating  address,  he 
frequented  its  walks,  and  engaged  in  its  concerns  with  a  truly  parental 
interest,  which  lasted  while  his  life  continued. 

General  H.  A.  S.  DEARBORN  gave  his  aid  in  a  disinterested  and 
indefatigable  manner.  By  him  the  capacities  of  the  ground  were 
studied,  and  the  avenues  and  paths  chiefly  laid  out,  whilst  the  belt 
of  trees  in  front  of  the  Cemetery  was  planted  at  his  expense. 

The  late  GEORGE  W.  BRIMMER,  Esq.,  the  proprietor  of  the  seventy- 
two  acres  first  obtained  by  the  society,  liberally  disposed  of  it  for 
its  present  purpose  at  cost,  and  freely  bestowed  both  his  time  and 
cultivated  taste  upon  its  early  improvement. 


MOUNT   AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED.  13 

CHARLES  P.  CURTIS,  Esq.,  by  his  financial  and  legal  services  ren- 
dered important  assistance  during  the  formation  of  the  institution,  and 
has  been  an  active  trustee  from  the  beginning. 

The  late  GEORGE  BOND,  Esq.,  was  an  early  and  ardent  friend  of 
the  enterprise,  and  during  his  lifetime,  performed  many  essential 
services  in  furtherance  of  the  objects  of  the  society.  —  Martin  Brim- 
mer, late  Mayor  of  Boston,  James  Read,  Isaac  Parker,  B.  A.  Gould, 
B.  R.  Curtis,  Esqrs.,  and  the  late  Joseph  P.  Bradlee,  Esq.,  were  its  early 
and  active  supporters. 

We  mention  these  brief  facts  in  proof  that  earnestness  of  purpose, 
combined  with  individual  enthusiasm  and  perseverance,  can  securely 
carry  into  effect  any  laudable  and  practicable  undertaking. 

Mount  Auburn  Cemetery  had  a  diligent  and  clear-sighted  projector, 
and  an  influential  board  to  carry  out  the  necessary  designs  —  who 
began  with  properly  directed  views  in  regard  to  the  benefit  of  living 
humanity.  It  has  therefore  gone  on  and  prospered.  Already  its 
limits  have  been  extended  by  a  new  purchase  of  land,  and  it  now 
covers  one  hundred  and  ten  acres.  Upwards  of  one  thousand  two 
hundred  proprietors  have  purchased  lots  of  varied  extent,  and  there 
is  room  enough  for  vast  additions  to  the  numbers  of  the  buried  dead. 
"  Mount  Auburn,"  said  the  lamented  Story,  in  his  Consecration  Ad- 
dress, "  in  the  noblest  sense,  belongs  no  longer  to  the  living,  but  to  the 
dead.  It  is  a  sacred,  it  is  an  eternal  trust.  It  is  consecrated  ground. 
May  it  remain  forever,  inviolate  !" 

The  distance  of  Mount  Auburn  from  the  metropolis  of  Massachu- 
setts is  about  four  miles.  It  is  partly  within  the  limits  of  Cambridge 
and  Watertown,  and  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  main  road 
leading  from  the  first-named  town  to  the  last.  The  Cemetery  is  laid 


14  MOTNT    AllU  K.\     11.1,1  STUATKD. 

out,  thus  tar.  in  twenty-three  intersretini:  avenues,  and  about  S«'\«-IH\- 
four  loot-paths:  and  here  u  e  max  be  permitted  to  re-appropriate  thr 
lines  of  the  j>oot.  in  applying  to  natural  beauty  \Nh;tt  lie  so  properly 
condemns  in  the  formal  school  of  his  time;  and  to  say  literallx.  in 
K  of  the  forest  umbrageousness  of  the>e  numerous  openings,  that 


tree  nods  to  tree, 


Each  alley  has  its  brother." 

The  avenues  are  winding  in  their  course  and  exceedingly  beautiful  in 
their  gentle  circuits,  adapted  picturesquely  to  the  inequalities  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  and  producing  charming  landscape  effects  from  this 
natural  arrangement,  such  as  could  never  be  had  from  straightness  or 
regularity.  Various  small  lakes,  or  ponds  of  different  size  and  shape, 
embellish  the  grounds ;  and  some  of  these  have  been  so  cleansed, 
deepened,  and  banked,  as  to  present  a  pleasant  feature  in  this  wide- 
spread extent  of  forest  loveliness — this  ground  of  hallowed  purpose. 
The  gates  of  the  enclosure  are  opened  at  sunrise  and  closed  at 
sunset,  and  thither  crowds  go  up  to  meditate,  and  to  wander  in  a 
field  of  peace ;  to  twine  the  votive  garland  around  the  simple  head- 
stone, or  to  sow  the  seed  of  floral  life  over  the  new-made  grave  —  fit 
emblems  of  our  own  growth,  decay,  and  death.  Mount  Auburn 
appears  to  be  "  the  first  example  in  modern  times  of  so  large  a  tract 
of  ground  being  selected  for  its  natural  beauties,  and  submitted  to  the 
processes  of  landscape  gardening,  to  prepare  it  for  the  reception  of  the 
dead." 

The  present  price  of  a  lot  is  $100  for  three  hundred  superficial 
Mjuare  iV-et,  and  in  proportion  for  a  larger  lot.  The  number  of  monu- 
ments already  erected,  amounts  to  nearlv  three  hundred,  many  of 


MOUNT    AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED.  15 

which  are  elegant  and  costly.  Limited  pecuniary  means  will  proba- 
bly ever  be  a  reason  why  the  majority  of  these  tributes  to  the 
departed  will  be  of  a  simple  character,  and  erected  at  small  expense. 
But  good  taste,  happily,  is  not  subservient  to  the  power  of  gold,  and 
should  ever  be  consulted  even  in  the  simplest  memorial.  The  wealth 
which  justifies  large  expenditures  is  not  always  successfully  applied, 
and  we  have  seen  sepulchral  structures  of  high  cost,  which,  to  the 
beholder,  admitted  of  no  other  feeling  than  that  they  were  monuments 
of  the  bad  taste  of  the  designer.  An  understanding  of  purely  classic 
forms,  and  a  chaste  taste,  will  cause  an  enduring  memorial  to  be  placed 
over  a  departed  friend,  which  shall  be  a  model  of  unpretending 
beauty ;  but  a  false  taste  will  erect  a  clumsy  mass  of  granite  or  mar- 
ble, which  shall  exhibit,  perhaps,  a  futile  effort  to  surpass  others,  and 
be  in  reality  an  architectural  abomination.  The  grassy  and  elevated 
mound  duly  planted  with  the  flowers  of  the  revolving  seasons,  and 
watered  by  the  hand  of  affection,  is  a  far  better  and  more  pleasing 
monument  than  an  unsuccessful  effort  of  the  other  kind,  and  infinitely 
more  grateful  to  the  traveller's  eye.  "I  have  seen,"  says  the  venerable 
Chateaubriand,  "  memorable  monuments  to  Crassus  and  to  Caesar,  but 
I  prefer  the  airy  tombs  of  the  Indians,  those  mausoleums  of  flowers 
and  verdure  refreshed  by  the  morning  dew,  embalmed  and  fanned 
by  the  breeze,  and  over  which  waves  the  same  branch  where  the 
blackbird  builds  his  nest,  and  utters  forth  his  plaintive  melody." 

To  render  Mount  Auburn  or  any  other  rural  burial-place  all  that  it 
ought  to  be  in  the  way  of  monumental  beauty,  the  utmost  care  should 
be  paid  to  the  classic  selection  and  proper  variety  of  its  sepulchral 
devices  —  its  cenotaphs,  monoliths,  and  obelisks;  and  they  should 
be  constructed  of  material  least  calculated  to  be  impaired  by  the 


16  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

influences  of  time  ami  v\  rather.  Neatness  should  always  be  observed 
iu  the  cultivation  of  that  floral  growth  which  constitutes  another  kind 
of  burial  offering.  The  flowers  planted  on  or  around  the  spot  of  in- 
terment, whilst  as  far  as  possible  maintaining  their  natural  appear- 
ance, should  never  be  permitted  to  run  together  and  crowd  like  weeds, 
but  should  be  so  carefully  trained,  separated,  and  arranged,  as  to 
impress  the  passer-by  with  a  sure  feeling  that  those  interred  beneath, 
nave  a  perpetual  memory  in  the  hearts  of  the  survivors;  that  they  are 
duly  cared  for  as  perennial  memorials  of  the  love  of  friends,  or,  what 
is  more  comforting  still,  as  symbols  and  types  of  the  resurrection ! 

"  Then  will  we  love  the  modest  flower, 

And  cherish  it  with  tears  ; 
It  minds  us  of  our  fleeting  time, 
Yet  chases  all  our  fears. 

"And  when  our  hour  of  rest  shall  be, 

We  will  not  weep  our  doom  ; 
So  angel-mission'd  flowers  may  come 
And  gather  round  the  tomb!" 


THE    PORTAL. 


"  Speak  low !    the  place  is  holy  to  the  breath 
Of  awful  harmonies,  of  whisper'd  prayer ; 
Tread  lightly !    for  the  sanctity  of  death 

Broods  with  a  voiceless  influence  on  the  air : 
Stern,  yet  serene !    a  reconciling  spell, 
Each  troubled  billow  of  the  soul  to  quell." 


THE  main  entrance  to  this  favored  "haunt  of  nature" — this  solemn, 
and  now  consecrated  fane — exemplifies  the  beauty  of  adaptation  to 
the  dignity  of  a  mighty  sepulchre, — one  of  those  forest-groves  which 
the  poet  has  called  the  "  first  temples"  of  the  Almighty — one  of  those 
ancient  sanctuaries,  which  had  tb  ir  being  long 

"  Ere  man  had  learn'd 
To  hew  the  shaft  and  lay  the  architn?"r 
And  spread  the  roof  above  them." 

Originally  the  portal  was  of  wood,  rough-cast,  in  imitation  of  stone, 
and  the  connected  paling  on  either  side  was  of  wood  also.  The  lofty 
entrance-gate  has  now  been  reconstructed,  in  granite,  in  the  same 
style  of  architecture  as  at  first — the  Egyptian — and  it  presents  to  the 


18  MOINT    Al'HfRN    ILLUSTUATKD. 

beholder  an  imposing  structure,  the  verv  inassiveness  and  complete 
workmanship  of  which,  insures  an  almost  eternal  duration.  It  is  less 
heavy,  however,  than  the  common  examples  of  that  style.  Its  piers 
have  not  the  pyramidal  or  sloping  form  so  common  in  Egyptian  edi- 
fices, but  are  made  vertically  erect,  like  the  more  chaste  examples  in 
the  great  portals  of  Thebes  and  Denderah.  The  massive  cornice  by 
which  it  is  surmounted  is  of  a  single  stone,  measuring  24  feet  in 
height  by  12  in  breadth.  It  is  ornamented  with  the  "  winged  globe" 
and  fluted  foliage  of  the  Egyptian  style,  and  bears  underneath  this 
inscription,  in  raised  letters,  between  its  filleted  mouldings :  — 

"  THEN  SHALL  THE  DCST  RETURN  TO  THE  EARTH  AS  IT  WAS,    iND  THE  SPIRIT  SHALL 

RETURN  UNTO  GoD  WHO  GAVE  IT." 


"MOUNT   AUBURN. 
CONSECRATED  SEPTEMBER  24,  1831." 

The  two  low  structures  at  the  sides,  are  rooms  occupied  as  the 
porter's  lodge,  and  the  office  of  the  superintendent. 

As  regards  monuments  or  designs  of  the  Egyptian  style,  for  places 
of  Christian  interment,  we  are  aware  that  an  objection  made  to 
them  has  been,  that  they  mark  a  period  anterior  to  Christian  civiliza- 
tion—  a  period  of  relative  degradation  and  paganism;  but  it  has  ever 
been  a  pleasure  with  the  thoughtful,  to  look  beyond  the  actual  appear- 
ance of  a  figure,  to  the  right  development  of  its  original  idea.  The 
now  mythologized  doctrines  of  Egypt,  seem  to  have  been  the  original 


THE   PORTAL.  19 

source  of  others  more  ennobling;  and  hieroglyphical  discoveries  have 
traced,  and  are  tracing  them  far  beyond  the  era  of  the  pyramids,  to  an 
unknown  limit,  but  to  a  pure,  sacred,  and  divine  source.  When  the 
art  of  writing  was  unknown,  the  primeval  Egyptians  resorted  to  sym- 
bols and  emblems  to  express  their  faith ;  and  these,  as  correctly  inter- 
preted, certainly  present  many  sublime  ideas  in  connection  with  those 
great  truths  which  in  an  after  age  constituted  the  doctrines  of  "  Chris- 
tianity" Some  of  their  sculptures  and  paintings  were  undoubtedly 
symbolical  of  the  resurrection  of  the  soul,  a  dread  of  the  final  judg- 
ment, and  a  belief  in  Omnipotent  justice.  The  very  pyramidal  shape, 
of  which  the  Egyptians  were  so  fond,  is  believed  to  indicate  an  idea 
not  disgraceful  to  a  wholly  Christian  era.  The  reason  why  this  form 
was  chosen  for  their  tombs,  is  declared  by  the  learned  Rosellini  to 
have  been,  because  it  represented  the  mountain,  the  holy  hill,  the 
divine  sanctuary  cut  in  the  mountain,  i.  e.,  the  tomb.  The  mountain 
was  sacred  among  the  Egyptians  as  the  abode  of  the  dead,  and  was 
identical  with  the  sepulchre,  the  nether  world,  and  their  Amenti,  the 
future  state.  The  image  or  figure  of  a  hill  became  an  emblem  of 
death,  and  the  pyramidal  form,  which  imitated  it,  was  a  funereal  symbol 
—  an  object  consecrated  to  the  abode  of  the  departed.  The  "  winged 
globe,"  which  is  carved  on  the  gateway  of  Mount  Auburn,  is  a  most 
beautiful  emblem  of  benign  protection.  In  the  form  of  a  sun,  with 
outstretched  wings,  it  covers  the  facades  of  most  Egyptian  buildings, 
and  was  the  primitive  type  of  the  divine  wisdom — the  universal  Pro- 
tector. We  do  not  know  of  a  more  fitting  emblem  than  this  for  the 
abode  of  the  dead,  which  we  may  well  suppose  to  be  overshadowed 
with  the  protecting  wings  of  Him  who  is  the  great  author  of  our 
being — the  "giver  of  life  and  death." 


20  MOINT    A I  HI  UN    1LLI  STKATKl). 

The  gateway  of  Mount  Auburn  opens  from  what  is  known  as  the 
old  Cambridge  road,  and  in  front  of  Central  Avenue,  on  tlie  north 
boundary  line  of  the  Cemetery.  This  avenue  forms  a  wide  carriage- 
road,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  openings  ever  improved  for  such 
a  purpose.  \Vith  the  exception  of  the  necessary  grading,  levelling,  and 
cutting  down  of  the  brushwood,  and  the  planting  of  a  few  trees,  it  has 
been  left  as  Nature  has  made  it.  On  either  side  it  is  overshadowed 
bv  the  foliage  of  forest-trees,  firs,  pines,  and  other  evergreens;  and 
here  you  first  begin  to  see  the  monuments  starting  up  from  the  sur- 
rounding verdure,  like  bright  remembrances  from  the  heart  of  earth. 

In  1844,  the  increasing  funds  of  the  corporation  justified  a  new  ex- 
penditure for  the  plain  but  massy  iron  fence  which  encloses  the  front 
of  the  Cemetery.  This  fence  is  ten  feet  in  height,  and  supported  on 
granite  posts  extending  four  feet  into  the  ground.  It  measures  half  a 
mile  in  length,  and  will,  when  completed,  effectually  preserve  the  Cem- 
etery inviolate  from  any  rude  intrusion.  The  cost  of  the  gateway  was 
about  $10,000 — the  fence,  $15,000. 

A  continuation  of  the  iron  fence  on  the  easterly  side  is  now  under 
contract,  and  a  strong  wooden  palisade  is,  as  we  learn,  to  be  erected 
on  the  remaining  boundary  during  the  present  year. 


THE  BINNEY  MONUMENT, 


"  A  lovely  shrine  !    a  cherub  form 

Extended  on  its  marble  bed 
As  if  the  gentle  dews  of  sleep 

Had  droop'd  the  little  floweret's  head. 
Fair  image !    spotless  as  the  snow  ; 
Pure  as  the  angel  shape  below, 
When  first  that  lifeless  sleeper  came, 
In  the  brown  mould  to  rest  its  frame." 


THE  monument  of  which  the  engraving  gives  so  pleasing  a  view, 
is  in  Yarrow  Path,  and  the  figure  itself  is  a  most  accurate  resem- 
blance of  the  cherub  child  of  whose  image  it  is  the  embodiment. 
It  is  the  work  of  Henry  Dexter,  an  artist  of  taste  and  reputation,  and 
was  taken  just  as  the  original  lay  on  her  pallet  after  death ; — even 
the  indenture  on  the  bed,  made  by  the  body,  is  strikingly  represented ; 
the  hands  are  crossed  upon  the  breast,  and  the  feet  bare,  and  crossed 
likewise.  When  first  finished,  in  all  the  shining  purity  of  the  marble, 
the  statue,  notwithstanding  the  coldness  of  the  substance,  seemed  to 
have  an  actual  life  about  it.  In  its  recumbent  posture,  and  with  the 
pillowed  head,  it  appears  indeed  like  an  infant  sleeping: — 

"  She  had  no  pulse,  but  death  seem'd  absent  still." 

The  "marble bed"  upon  which  this  infant  figure  reposes,  is  surrounded 
with  four   small  columns,   and  the  finished  work  is  a  meet   memo- 


.Mul   NT    Al   lil  UN     II, 1. 1  Mi;  ATKL). 

rial  of  departed  innocence  and  l>raut\.  It  reminds  us  of  the  lost  child 
of  the  Indian  mother,  \\hom  Chateaubriand  describes  as  coming  to 
plant  flowers  upon  the  turf  whe.re  reposed  her  departed  infant,  \\hom 
she  thus  addresses: — "  AVhv  should  1  deplore  thy  early  grave,  oh!  my 
first-born  I  When  the  newlv  lledned  bird  lirst  seeks  his  food,  he  iiiuls 
man\  hitter  grains.  Thou  hast  never  felt  the  pangs  of  sorrow,  and  thy 
heart  was  never  polluted  by  the  poisonous  breath  of  man.  The  rose 
that  is  nipped  in  the  bud.  dies  enclosed  with  all  its  perfumes,  like  tliee, 
mv  child,  with  all  thy  innocence.  Happy  are  those  who  die  in 
infancy  :  they  have  never  known  the  joys  or  sorrows  of  a  mother." 

This  expression  of  chastened  grief  is  as  touching  as  it  is  pure.  We 
cannot  forget,  in  its  connection,  the  promise  of  Him  who  said  of  little 
children,  "of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

This  beautiful  monument,  so  much  visited  by  wanderers  over  Mount 
Auburn,  exhibits  the  first  marble  statue  executed  in  Boston,  and  it 
marks  the  lot  of  C.  J.  F.  BIXXEY,  Esq.,  of  Boston.  There  are  now  but 
two  JH •  rental  representations  in  Mount  Auburn,  and  this  is  one  of  them. 
Monumental  tributes  of  this  class  are  as  yet  rare  in  our  country,  though 
no  >t\le  can  be  more  appropriate  in  memory  of  buried  friends.  The 
following  -  form  an  impromptu  tribute,  on  beholding  the  marble 

memorial  in  Yarrow  Path: — 

"  The  dread  power  of  heaven  alone  can  restore 
That  life  to  the  dead,  which  it  gave  them  before  ; 
But  man's  lofty  genius  can  rescue  from  death, 
The  last  lovely  look,  the  last  smile,  the  last  breath. 

••  The  sculptor,  in  marble,  a  life  can  restore, 
That  never  will  perish  till  time  be  no  more; 

the  threat,  tin-  .  the  lovely  and  pure, 

.pie,  applan.~«'.  and  aU'ection  endure." 


THE   NAVAL   MONUMENT 


"And  long  they  look'd,  but  never  spied 
The  welcome  step  again." 

"  Near  the  deep  was  the  slaughter, 

And  there  the  sudden  blow, 
Brave  blood  pour'd  out  like  water, — 
The  vengeance  of  the  foe." 


THE  principal  obelisk  represented  in  the  opposite  engraving,  is  a 
lofty  cenotaph  of  pure  white  marble,  ornamented  on  the  four  sides 
with  festoons  of  roses  in  relievo,  and  presenting  altogether  a  monument 
of  good  proportion,  strikingly  chaste  and  simple.  It  is  erected  to 
the  memory  of  four  officers  of  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition, 
the  melancholy  termination  of  whose  lives  is  here  briefly  recorded 
by  the  surviving  companions  of  their  noble  and  perilous  enterprise. 
Their  melancholy  fate  was  not  met  in  the  reckless  pursuit  of  gain,  nor 
in  the  mad  chase  after  military  glory;  but  in  the  nobler  and  equally 


.MtU  NT  Aim  UN    11,1.1  STRATED. 

daring  eareer  of  the  pioneers  of  ei\  ili/ation.  in  extending  the  hounds 
of  humanity  and  seienee.  whilM  >ur\  eying  unknown  seas  for  the  benefit 
ami  M-euritv  of  those  who  \\ere  to  come  after  them. 

The  fate  of  two  of  the  \oung  officers — passed  midshipmen  JAMKS 
W.  IIKID  and  FREDERIC  A.  BACON — whose  names  are  recorded  upon 
the  inarhle,  is  shrouded  in  ohseuriu.  Among  the  vessels  of  the  expe- 
dition, were  two  New  York  pilot-boats,  called  the  Flying-fish  and  the 
Seagull, — the  latter  commanded  by  Mr.  Reid,  who  had  with  him  Mr. 
Bacon  and  fifteen  men.  The  other  vessels  having  sailed  from  Orange 
Bay,  near  Cape  Horn,  on  the  28th  April,  1839,  these  two  small  vessels 
also  took  their  departure  for  Valparaiso.  A  heavy  gale  came  on 
during  that  night,  and  the  Flying-fish  returned  to  her  anchorage,  hav- 
ing lost  sight  of  the  Seagull.  The  other  vessels  arrived  in  safety,  but 
the  little  Seagull  was  never  heard  of  more.  The  commodore  of  the 
Pacific  station,  some  time  afterwards,  dispatched  a  man-of-war  to 
search  the  shores  of  Terra  del  Fuego — but  it  was  in  vain.  She  is 
supposed  to  have  foundered  in  the  boisterous  seas  off  Cape  Horn, 
when  all  on  board  must  have  perished.  Lieut.  Wilkes,  commander  of 
the  expedition,  speaks  of  these  twro  officers  as  having  no  superiors  in 
the  squadron,  for  the  station  they  occupied.  "  They  brought  with  them 
into  the  expedition,"  he  says,  "  a  high  character ;  and  during  the  short 
period  in  which  they  were  attached  to  it,  they  were  distinguished  for 
their  devotedness  to  the  arduous  service  in  which  they  were  engaged." 
Mr.  Bacon  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Reid,  a  native  of  Geor- 
gia, son  of  the  late  Gov.  Reid  of  Florida. 

On  the  reverse  side  of  this  cenotaph,  the  inscription  reads  as 
follows : — 


THE  NAVAL  MONUMENT.  25 

TO    THE    MEMORY    OF 

LIEUTENANT  JOSEPH   A.  UNDERWOOD, 

AND 

MIDSHIPMAN   WILKES   HENRY, 

WHO  FELL  BY  THE  HANDS  OF  SAVAGES,  WHILST  PROMOTING  THE  CAUSE  OF  SCIENCE 

AND  PHILANTHROPY, 

AT  MOLOLO,  ONE  OF  THE  FfiJEE  GROUP  OF  ISLANDS, 
JULY  24,  1840. 

The  sanguinary  and  barbarous  character  of  the  Fejee  islanders,  has 
long  been  a  theme  of  marvel  to  the  whalers  and  traders  to  the  Pacific, 
but  the  atrocity  of  their  premeditated  and  entirely  unprovoked  attack 
upon  poor  Underwood  and  his  party,  has  rarely  been  surpassed. 
These  officers  had  boldly  gone  on  shore  to  procure  provision  from  the 
natives,  when  they  were  suddenly  attacked  by  some  of  the  cannibals 
of  the  place,  and  killed  by  club  wounds. 

All  the  usual  precautions  in  dealing  with  these  treacherous  savages 
were  adopted :  a  native,  supposed  at  that  time  to  be  a  chief,  secured  in 
the  boat  as  hostage,  and  the  remainder  of  the  party,  with  the  boats 
and  arms,  being  ready  for  any  emergency.  But  alas !  the  wily  canni- 
bals had  laid  their  plans  with  a  too  fatal  certainty.  Having  lured  Mr. 
Underwood  and  his  party  on  shore,  and  whilst  their  attention  was  en- 
gaged in  bartering,  the  hostage  leaped  overboard,  making  his  escape ; 
and  at  the  same  moment,  as  if  by  preconcerted  signal,  the  natives 
sprang  from  their  hiding-places,  and  fell  upon  them  with  spears  and 
war-clubs,  in  overpowering  numbers.  And  here  it  was  that  the  cool- 
ness and  heroic,  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  the  officers  shone  forth  glo- 


26  MOUNT   AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

riously, — exposing  their  own  lives  in  covering  the  retreat  of  the  men, 
who  all  made  their  escape,  while  Underwood  and  Henry,  after  a  short 
conflict,  were  beaten  down  by  the  war-clubs  of  the  fell  destroyers. 

Such  was  the  tragic  fate  of  these  brave  men,  in  connection  with 
which  there  is  but  one  alleviating  circumstance — that  their  bodies 
were  rescued  from  the  savage  foe.  Though  interred  leagues  from  home 
and  kindred,  where  no  tear  of  affection  could  water  the  bier,  they 
received  a  Christian  sepulture,  where  the  thick  trees  wave  over  their 
hidden  graves,  and  where,  ten  miles  from  the  place  of  the  massacre, 
the  everlasting  rocks  will  be  their  eternal  monument !  Their  bodies 
were  transported  to  one  of  the  sand-islands  of  a  neighboring  group, 
and,  wrapped  in  their  country's  flag,  were  suitably  interred  there. 
The  following  affecting  passage  in  relation  to  this  melancholy  service, 
is  from  Capt.  Wilkes'  Narrative  of  the  Exploring  Expedition : — 

"  Twenty  sailors,  (all  dressed  in  white,)  with  myself  and  officers, 
landed  to  pay  this  last  mark  of  affection  and  respect  to  those  who  had 
shared  so  many  dangers  with  us,  and  of  whom  we  were  so  suddenly 
bereaved.  The  quiet  of  the  scene,  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  and 
the  smallness  of  the  number  who  assisted,  were  all  calculated  to  pro- 
duce an  unbroken  silence.  The  bodies  were  quietly  taken  up  and 
borne  along  to  the  centre  of  the  island,  where  stood  a  grove  of  ficus 
trees,  whose  limbs  were  entwined  in  all  directions  by  running  vines. 
It  was  a  lonely  and  suitable  spot,  in  a  shade  so  dense  that  scarce  a  ray 
of  the  sun  could  penetrate  it.  The  grave  was  dug  deep  and  wide  in 
the  pure  white  sand,  and  the  funeral  service  read  over  the  remains 
with  such  deep  feeling,  that  none  will  forget  the  impression  of  that  sad 
half  hour.  After  the  bodies  had  been  closed  in,  three  volleys  were 
fired  over  the  grave,  and  every  precaution  taken  to  erase  all  marks 


THE  NAVAL  MONUMENT.  27 

that  might  indicate  where  these  unfortunate  gentlemen  were  interred 
To  fix  a  more  enduring  mark  on  the  place,  the  island  itself  was  named 
after  young  '  Henry,'  and  the  cluster  of  which  it  forms  one,  '  Under- 
wood Group.' " 

The  cenotaph  at  Mount  Auburn  stands  upon  Central  Avenue,  and 
tells  the  lingerer  upon  the  spot,  that  it  was  erected  to  the  memory  of 
these  unfortunate  men,  "  by  their  associates,  the  officers  and  scientific 
corps  of  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition." 

The  other  obelisk  seen  in  the  engraving,  marks  the  lot  of  B.  Fiske, 
Esq.,  of  Boston. 


INTERMENT  OF  THE  DEAD. 


IN  the  first  number  of  this  work  we  have  dwelt  upon  the  natural 
and  picturesque  beauties  of  Mount  Auburn,  and  have  presented  the 
reasons  why  this  remarkable  spot  seemed  eminently  adapted  for  a  re- 
pository of  the  dead,  and  a  place  of  consolation  to  the  living.  We 
have  thought  it  well  to  commence  this  second  part  with  some  more 
philosophical  views  of  the  advantage  and  necessity  of  suburban  ceme- 
teries, such  as  form  the  subjects  of  these  serial  publications.  For  this 
purpose,  we  have  made  use  of  a  lecture  delivered  in  Boston,  by  Dr. 
BIGELOW,  at  the  time  when  the  subject  was  first  agitated  among  us. 
Some  portions  of  this  discourse  we  have  inserted  at  length,  and  others 
in  a  condensed  form. 

"  The  manner  in  which  we  dispose  of  the  remains  of  our  deceased 
friends,  is  a  subject  which  has  begun,  of  late,  to  occupy  a  large  share  of 
the  public  attention.  It  involves  not  only  considerations  which  belong 
to  the  public  convenience,  but  includes  also  the  gratification  of  indi- 
vidual taste  and  the  consolation  of  private  sorrow.  Although,  in  a 
strictly  philosophical  view,  this  subject  possesses  but  little  importance, 
except  in  relation  to  the  convenience  of  survivors,  yet  so  closely  are 


INTERMENT  OF   THE   DEAD.  29 

our  sympathies  enlisted  with  it,  and  so  inseparably  do  we  connect  the 
feelings  of  the  living  with  the  condition  of  the  dead,  that  it  is  in  vain 
that  we  attempt  to  divest  ourselves  of  its  influence.  It  is  incumbent 
upon  us,  therefore,  to  analyze,  as  far  as  we  may  be  able,  the  principles 
which  belong  to  a  correct  view  of  the  subject, — since  it  is  only  by  un- 
derstanding these,  that  we  may  expect  both  reason  aud  feeling  to  be 
satisfied." 

"  The  progress  of  all  organized  beings  is  towards  decay.  The  com- 
plicated textures  which  the  living  body  elaborates  within  itself,  begin 
to  fall  asunder  almost  as  soon  as  life  has  ce.ased.  The  materials  of 
which  animals  and  vegetables  are  composed,  have  natural  laws  and 
irresistible  affinities,  which  are  suspended  during  the  period  of  life,  but 
which  must  be  obeyed  the  moment  that  life  is  extinct.  These  con- 
tinue to  operate  until  the  exquisite  fabric  is  reduced  to  a  condition  in 
nowise  different  from  that  of  the  soil  on  which  it  has  once  trodden. 
In  certain  cases  art  may  modify,  and  accident  may  retard  the  ap- 
proaches of  disorganization,  but  the  exceptions  thus  produced  are  too 
few  and  imperfect  to  invalidate  the  certainty  of  the  general  law. 

"  If  we  take  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  progress  and  mutations 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  we  shall  perceive  that  this  necessity  of 
individual  destruction  is  the  basis  of  general  safety.  The  elements 
which  have  once  moved  and  circulated  in  living  frames,  do  not  be- 
come extinct  nor  useless  after  death; — they  offer  themselves  as  the 
materials  from  which  other  living  frames  are  to  be  constructed.  What 
has  once  possessed  life  is  most  assimilated  to  the  living  character,  and 
most  ready  to  partake  of  life  again.  The  plant  which  springs  from 
the  earth,  after  attaining  its  growth  and  perpetuating  its  species,  falls 
to  the  ground,  undergoes  decomposition,  and  contributes  its  remains  to 


30  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

the  nourishment  of  plants  around  it.  The  myriads  of  animals  which 
range  the  woods  or  inhabit  the  air,  at  length  die  upon  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  and  if  not  devoured  by  other  animals,  prepare  for  vegetation 
the  place  which  receives  their  remains.  Were  it  not  for  this  law  of 
nature,  the  soil  would  be  soon  exhausted,  the  earth's  surface  would  be- 
come a  barren  waste,  and  the  whole  race  of  organized  beings,  for  want 
of  sustenance,  would  become  extinct. 

"  Man  alone,  the  master  of  the  creation,  does  not  willingly  stoop  to 
become  a  participator  in  the  routine  of  nature.  In  every  age  he  has 
manifested  a  disposition  to  exempt  himself,  and  to  rescue  his  fellow, 
from  the  common  fate  of  living  beings.  Although  he  is  prodigal  of 
the  lives  of  other  classes,  and  sometimes  sacrifices  a  hundred  inferior 
bodies  to  procure  for  himself  a  single  repast,  yet  he  regards  with  scru- 
pulous anxiety  the  destination  of  his  own  remains ;  and  much  labor 
and  treasure  are  devoted  by  him  to  ward  off  for  a  season  the  inevita- 
ble courses  of  nature.  Under  the  apprehension  of  posthumous  degra- 
dation, human  bodies  have  been  embalmed, — their  concentrated  dust 
has  been  enclosed  in  golden  urns, — monumental  fortresses  have  been 
piled  over  their  decaying  bones ; — with  what  success  and  with  what 
use,  it  remains  to  be  considered." 

A  few  instances  are  selected,  in  which  measures  have  been  taken 
to  protect  the  human  frame  from  decay,  which  will  be  seen  to  have 
been,  in  some  cases,  partially  successful,  in  others  not  so. 

King  Edward  I.  of  England  died  in  1307.  His  body  was  embalmed, 
and  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  About  467  years  afterwards,  a 
number  of  antiquarians  obtained  leave  to  open  the  sarcophagus,  when 
the  body  was  found  in  a  high  state  of  preservation. 

Another  instance  of  nearly  the  same  result  is  recollected  in  the 


INTERMENT   OF  THE   DEAD.  31 

body  of  King  Charles  I.  This  was  found  by  accident  at  Windsor,  in 
1813,  in  the  wall  of  the  vault  of  Henry  VIII.  The  coffin  bore 
the  inscription,  "Kmo  CHARLES,  1648."  Sir  Henry  Halford  examined 
the  body  in  the  presence  of  the  royal  family,  and  has  given  to  the 
world  an  interesting  account  of  the  examination. 

These  are  declared  to  be  two  of  the  most  successful  instances  of 
posthumous  preservation.  In  other  embalmed  bodies  there  have  been 
very  different  results.  The  coffin  of  Henry  VIII.  was  inspected  at  the 
same  time  with  that  of  Charles,  and  found  to  contain  nothing  but  the 
mere  skeleton  of  the  king.  During  the  present  century  the  sarcopha- 
gus of  King  John  has  also  been  examined :  it  contained  little  else 
than  a  disorganized  mass  of  earth. 

The  rapidity  with  which  decomposition  takes  place  in  organic 
bodies,  depends  upon  the  particular  circumstances  under  which  they 
are  placed.  A  certain  temperature  and  a  certain  degree  of  moisture 
are  indispensable  agents  in  the  common  process  of  putrefaction ;  and 
could  these  be  avoided  in  the  habitable  parts  of  our  globe,  human 
bodies  might  last  indefinitely.  Where  a  great  degree  of  cold  exists,  it 
tends  powerfully  to  check  the  process  of  destructive  fermentation ;  and 
when  it  extends  so  far  as  to  produce  congelation,  its  protecting  power 
is  complete.  Bodies  of  men  have  been  found  in  a  state  of  perfect 
preservation  amongst  the  snows  of  the  Andes  and  Alps ;  and  an  ele- 
phant of  an  extinct  species  was  found  in  1806,  imbedded  in  an  ice- 
rock  of  the  polar  sea,  having  been  first  seen  in  this  position  in  1799. 
It  required  five  summers  to  melt  the  ice  so  that  the  entire  body  could 
be  liberated.  These  facts  are  sufficient  to  show  that  a  low  degree  of 
temperature  is  an  effectual  preventive  of  animal  decomposition.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  certain  degree  of  heat,  combined  with  a  dry  atmo- 


32  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

sphere,  although  a  less  perfect  protection,  is  sufficient  to  check  the 
destructive  process.  Warmth,  combined  with  moisture,  tends  greatly 
to  promote  decomposition ;  yet  if  the  degree  of  heat,  or  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  acts,  are  such  as  to  produce  a  perfect  dissipa- 
tion of  moisture,  the  further  progress  of  decay  is  arrested.  In  the  arid 
caverns  of  Egypt,  the  dried  flesh  of  mummies,  although  greatly  changed 
from  its  original  appearance,  has  made  no  progress  towards  ultimate 
decomposition,  during  two  or  three  thousand  years. 

"  In  the  crypt  under  the  cathedral  of  Milan,  travellers  are  shown 
the  ghastly  relics  of  Carlo  Borromeo,  as  they  have  lain  for  two  centu- 
ries, enclosed  in  a  crystal  sarcophagus,  and  bedecked  with  costly  finery 
of  silk  and  gold.  The  preservation  of  this  body  is  equal  to  that  of  an 
Egyptian  mummy  ;  yet  a  more  loathsome  piece  of  mockery  than  it  ex- 
hibits can  hardly  be  imagined. 

"  It  will  be  perceived  that  the  instances  which  have  been  detailed, 
are  cases  of  extraordinary  exemption,  resulting  from  uncommon  care, 
or  from  the  most  favorable  combination  of  circumstances, — such  as 
can  befall  but  an  exceedingly  small  portion  of  the  human  race.  The 
common  fate  of  animal  bodies  is  to  undergo  the  entire  destruction  of 
their  fabric,  and  the  obliteration  of  their  living  features  in  a  few  years, 
and  sometimes  even  weeks,  after  their  death.  No  sooner  does  life 
cease,  than  the  elements  which  constituted  the  vital  body  become  sub- 
ject to  the  common  laws  of  inert  matter.  The  original  affinities, 
which  had  been  modified  or  suspended  during  life,  are  brought  into 
operation ;  the  elementary  atoms  react  upon  each  other ;  the  organ- 
ized structure  passes  into  decay,  and  is  converted  into  its  original 
dust.  Such  is  the  natural,  and  we  may  add,  the  proper  destination  of 
the  material  part  of  all  that  has  once  moved  and  breathed. 


INTERMENT    OF   THE   DEAD.  33 

"  The  reflections  which  naturally  suggest  themselves,  in  contempla- 
ting the  wrecks  of  humanity  which  have  occasionally  been  brought  to 
light,  are  such  as  to  lead  us  to  ask, — Of  what  possible  use  is  a  resist- 
ance to  the  laws  of  nature,  which,  when  most  successfully  executed, 
can  at  best  only  preserve  a  defaced  and  degraded  image  of  what  was 
once  perfect  and  beautiful  1  Could  we  by  any  means  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  decay,  so  as  to  gather  round  us  the  dead  of  a  hundred  gener- 
ations in  a  visible  and  tangible  shape ;  could  we  fill  our  houses  and 
our  streets  with  mummies, — what  possible  acquisition  could  be  more 
useless — what  custom  could  be  more  revolting  1  For  precisely  the 
same  reason,  the  subterranean  vaults  and  the  walls  of  brick,  which  we 
construct  to  divide  the  clay  of  humanity  from  that  of  the  rest  of  crea- 
tion, and  to  preserve  it  separate  for  a  time,  as  it  were,  for  future  in- 
spection, are  neither  useful,  gratifying,  nor  ultimately  effectual.  Could 
the  individuals  themselves,  who  are  to  be  the  subjects  of  this  care, 
have  the  power  to  regulate  the  officious  zeal  of  their  survivors,  one  of 
the  last  things  they  could  reasonably  desire  would  be,  that  the  light 
should  ever  shine  on  their  changed  and  crumbling  relics. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  when  nature  is  permitted  to  take  her  course — 
when  the  dead  are  committed  to  the  earth  under  the  open  sky,  to  be- 
come early  and  peacefully  blended  with  their  original  dust,  no  unpleas- 
ant association  remains.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  forbidding  and 
repulsive  conditions  which  attend  on  decay,  were  merged  and  lost  in 
the  surrounding  harmonies  of  the  creation. 

"  When  the  body  of  Major  Andre  was  taken  up,  a  few  years  since, 
from  the  place  of  its  interment  near  the  Hudson,  for  the  purpose  of 
being  removed  to  England,  it  was  found  that  the  skull  of  that  officer 
was  closely  encircled  by  a  network  formed  by  the  roots  of  a  smal 


34  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

tree.  \\liicb  had  been  planted  near  his  head.  This  is  a  natural  and 
most  beautiful  coincidence  It  \\ould  seem  as  it'  a  faithful  sentinel 
had  taken  his  post,  to  watch  .till  the  obliterated  ashes  should  no  longer 
need  a  friend.  Could  we  associate  \\ith  inanimate  clay  any  of  the 
feelings  of  sentient  beings,  who  would  not  wish  to  rescue  his  remains 
from  the  prisons  of  mankind,  and  commit  them  thus  to  the  embrace  of 
nature  ? 

"  Convenience,  health,  and  decency  require  that  the  dead  should  be 
early  removed  from  our  sight.  The  law  of  nature  ordains  that  they 
should  moulder  into  dust :  and  the  sooner  this  change  is  accomplished 
the  better.  This  change  should  take  place,  not  in  the  immediate  con- 
tiguity ot  survivors, — not  in  frequented  receptacles,  provided  for  the, 
promiscuous  concentration  of  numbers, — not  where  the  intruding  light 
ma\  annually  usher  in  a  new  tenant,  to  encroach  upon  the  old.  It 
should  take  place  peacefully,  silently,  separately — in  the  retired  valley 
or  the  sequestered  wood,  where  the  soil  continues  its  primitive  exuber- 
ance, and  where  the  earth  has  not  become  too  costly  to  afford  to  each 
occupant  at  least  his  length  and  breadth. 

"  Within  the  bounds  of  populous  and  growing  cities,  interments  can- 
not with  propriety  take  place  beyond  a  limited  extent.  The  vacant 
tracts  reserved  for  burial-grounds,  and  the  cellars  of  churches  which 
are  converted  into  tombs,  become  glutted  with  inhabitants,  and  are  in 
the  end  obliged  to  be  abandoned,  though  not,  perhaps,  until  the  original 
tenants  have  been  ejected,  and  the  same  space  has  been  occupied 
three  or  four  successive  times.  Necessity  obliges  a  recourse  at  last  to 
be  had  to  the  neighboring  country ;  and  hence  in  Paris,  London,  Liv- 
erpool, Leghorn,  and  other  European  cities,  cemeteries  have  been 
constructed  without  the  confines  of  their  population.  These  places, 


INTERMENT   OF   THE    DEAD.  35 

in  consequence  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  ground,  and  the  funds  which 
usually  grow  out  of  such  establishments,  have  been  made  the  recipi- 
ents of  tasteful  ornament.  Travellers  are  attracted  by  their  beauty, 
and  dwell  with  interest  on  their  subsequent  recollection.  The  scenes 
which,  under  most  other  circumstances,  are  repulsive  and  disgusting, 
are  by  the  joint  influence  of  nature  and  art  rendered  beautiful,  at- 
tractive, and  consoling." 

"  We  regard  the  relics  of  our  deceased  friends  and  kindred  for 
what  they  have  been,  and  not  for  what  they  are.  We  cannot  keep  in 
our  presence  the  degraded  image  of  the  original  frame ;  and  if  some 
memorial  is  necessary  to  soothe  the  unsatisfied  want  which  we  feel 
when  bereaved  of  their  presence,  it  must  be  found  in  contemplating 
the  place  in  which  we  know  their  dust  is  hidden.  The  history  of 
mankind  in  all  ages,  shows  that  the  human  heart  clings  to  the  grave 
of  its  disappointed  wishes, — that  it  seeks  consolation  in  rearing  em- 
blems and  monuments,  and  in  collecting  images  of  beauty  over  the 
disappearing  relics  of  humanity.  This  can  be  fitly  done,  not  in  the 
tumultuous  and  harassing  din  of  cities, — not  in  the  gloomy  and  almost 
unapproachable  vaults  of  charnel-houses, — but  amidst  the  quiet  ver- 
dure of  the  field,  under  the  broad  and  cheerful  light  of  heaven,  where 
the  harmonious  and  ever-changing  face  of  nature  reminds  us,  by  its 
resuscitating  influences,  that  to  die  is  but  to  live  again." 


THE    CHAPEL. 


"  For  the  departed  soul  they  raise 
A  requiem  sad,  a  psalm  of  praise." 

[McLELLAN. 

"  How  full  of  consolation  here  may  be 
The  voice  of  him,  whose  office  'tis  to  give 
1  Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust.'  " 

[PlERPONT. 


I\  a  spot  consecrated  to  so  holy  a  purpose  as  Mount  Auburn,  the 
propriety  of  a  structure  in  which  the  last  services  may  be  performed 
over  the  dead,  strikes  the  mind  at  once ;  and  with  some  denominations 
of  Christians,  is  almost  of  absolute  necessity.  Amongst  Episcopalians, 
for  instance,  the  corpse  is  carried  before  the  mourners,  and  preceded 
by  the  minister,  who  is  required  to  read  the  burial  service.  ••  either  en- 
tering the  church  or  going  towards  the  grave."  Individuals  of  oilier 
sects,  who  have  lost  friends  by  death,  have  a  preference,  sometimes, 
that  the  service  should  be  performed  on  the  ground  of  interment, 
rather  than  in  tin -ir  own  houses,  as  is  the  common  custom.  These 
ceremonies,  in  favorable  weather,  have  been  performed  in  the  open 


THE    CHAPEL.  37 

air,  when  a  peculiar  solemnity  has  been  imparted  to  them ;  but  in  in- 
clement seasons,  it  is  evident  that  such  church  requirements  or  personal 
feelings  could  not  be  gratified.  The  erection  of  a  chapel  at  Mount 
Auburn  would,  it  was  known,  obviate  this  difficulty,  and  be  a  gratifica- 
tion to  sorrowing  friends ;  whilst  such  a  building  would  also  afford  a 
suitable  place  for  the  reception  of  statues,  busts,  and  other  delicate 
pieces  of  sculpture,  liable  to  injury  from  exposure  to  the  weather. 
Within  the  past  year  such  an  edifice  has  been  constructed.  It  is 
erected  upon  elevated  ground,  on  the  right  of  Central  Avenue,  not  far 
from  the  entrance,  and  with  its  Gothic  pinnacles  pointing  heaven- 
ward, forms  a  picturesque  object,  as  a  view  of  it  is  caught  ever  and 
anon  from  the  various  turnings.  It  is  built  of  granite  ;  is  66  feet  by  40 
in  dimensions ;  with  its  decorations  mostly  taken  from  the  continental 
examples  in  France  and  Germany.  The  exterior  is  surrounded  with 
octagonal  buttresses  and  pinnacles,  and  the  clerestory  is  supported  by 
Gothic  pillars.  Care  has  been  taken  to  produce  a  certain  kind  of 
light  in  the  interior,  mellow,  solemn,  most  in  consonance  with  the 
especial  object  of  the  edifice,  and,  at  the  same  time,  such  as  would 
pleasingly  reflect  upon  statuary  and  other  decorations  of  sculpture. 
With  reference  to  these  effects,  the  light  has  been  admitted  only  from 
the  ends  of  the  building,  and  above  from  the  clerestory.  The  win- 
dows are  of  colored  glass;  and  as  the  broad  mid-day  light  enters 
through  them,  it  plays  in  prismatic  hues  upon  the  sombre  columns  and 
vaults, — relieves  the  gloom, — and  reminds  one  by  its  radiance,  as  the 
bow  in  the  clouds  reminded  Campbell,  of  the  beautiful  forms  of  angel 
goodness  following  the  thunder  and  the  storm ;  coming,  not  severe  in 
wrath,  but  with  a  garment  of  brightness ;  and  bringing  a  blessed  mem- 
ory of  the  power  of  that  high  and  holy  One  who  made  both  the  light 


38  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

and   the   darkness, — ordered    life    and   death,  mortality  and   immor- 
talir  \ . 

In  the  head  of  the  large  nave  window,  is  a  heautiful  allegorical  de- 
sign, representing  peaceful  death.  It  consists  of  a  winged  female 
figure  asleep,  and  floating  in  the  clouds,  bearing  in  her  arms  two  sleep- 
ing infants.  The  babes  in  the  sweet  repose  of  the  mother's  breast, 
and  the  whole  ascending  group  in  that  sleep  which  indicates  the  loos- 
ening of  the  silver  cord,  forms  a  beautiful  design,  imperceptibly  leading 
the  beholder  to  sympathize  with  the  mother's  spirit,  peacefully  dream- 
ing, as  it  were,  in  the  words  of  Mrs.  Hemans, — 


"  Free,  free  from  earth-born  fear, 

I  would  range  the  blessed  skies, 
Through  the  blue  divinely  clear, 
Where  the  low  mists  cannot  rise." 


The  outline  of  this  design  is  taken  mainly  from  Thorwaldsen's  cele- 
brated bas-relief  of  "  Night,"  and  well  recalls  the  reunion  of  parents 
and  children  in  their  final  rest.  In  the  centre  of  the  rose-window 
which  forms  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  front,  is  a  painted  design  em- 
blematic of  immortality,  consisting  of  two  cherubs  from  Raphael's  Ma- 
donna di  San  Sisto,  gazing  upwards  with  their  well-known  expression 
of  adoration  and  love,  into  what,  in  this  instance,  is  a  light  or  "  glory," 
proceeding  from  beyond  the  picture.  These  windows  have  been 
made  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Hay  of  Edinburgh,  author  of  several 
philosophic  treatises  on  the  harmony  of  colors.  They  are  executed 
by  Messrs.  Ballantyne  and  Allan,  the  artists  who  have  been  lately  se- 
lected, by  the  commissioners  on  the  fine  arts,  to  make  the  windows  for 
the  new  Houses  of  Parliament  in  London.  The  entire  cost  of  the 


THE    CHAPEL.  39 

chapel  has  been  about  $25,000 ;  nearly  a  third  of  which  sum  was  ob- 
tained by  subscription. 

We  know  not  any  domain  (except  it  be  the  great  world  itself)  that 
can  better  show  forth  the  connection  existing  between  taste  and 
morals,  than  the  various  surface  of  a  rural  burial-place.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fine  arts  may  there  be  exhibited  in  a  genuine  spirit  of 
beauty  and  of  purity ;  and  floriculture  can  be  made  lovingly  to  "  tes- 
selate  the  floor  of  nature's  temple."  The  poet  there  may  gain  new 
perceptions  of  truth  and  beauty  from  varied  forms  and  shapes  of  be- 
ing; and  the  writer  of  epitaphs,  even,  can  exhibit  the  value  of  his 
occasional  and  unappreciated  vocation,  in  the  ability  with  which  the 
judiciously  written  though  brief  inscription,  may  indicate  the  great 
Christian  hope,  and  point  to  that  life  beyond  the  present,  where  the 
friends  who  are  lost  to  us  in  this  world  enter  upon  a  nobler  existence. 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  taste,  whether  exhibited  in  flower-crowned 
mounds,  or  in  the  chaste  and  classic  monument,  may  exist  in  a  rural 
cemetery,  in  close  connection  with  morals ;  and  it  is  no  less  true,  that 
every  pure  ideal  of  religion  and  virtue  grows  in  beauty  by  the  food 
upon  which  it  feeds.  In  this  way  a  progress  towards  excellence  is  at- 
tained, and  the  rural  burying-place  becomes  the  means  to  a  great  end. 
The  resting-place  of  the  dead,  in  this  view,  may  be  said  to  be  as  a 
city,  "whose  foundations  are  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious 
stones,  whose  streets  are  of  pure  gold,  and  whose  gates  are  of  pearl," 


THE  MONUMENT  TO  SPURZHEIM. 


"  Land  of  the  golden  vine, 
Land  of  the  lordly  Rhine, 

Weep,  distant  land ! 
Weep  for  your  son  who  came 
Hither  in  Learning's  name, 
Bearing  her  sacred  flame 

In  bis  pure  hand." 

[McLfiLLAN. 


THE  monument  to  SPURZHEIM  is  a  copy  of  that  of  Scipio  Africanus 
at  Rome,  and  is  the  first  which  meets  the  eye  whilst  advancing  into 
the  cemetery  from  the  main  avenue.  The  simple  name  is  the  only 
record  which  it  bears, — all  other  inscription  or  epitaph  being  left  to 
the  hand  of  fame,  or  to  the  suggestive  imagination  and  peculiar  feel- 
ings of  such  as  may  visit  the  shades  where  rest  the  remains  of  an 
energetic  and  hopeful  foreigner. 

John  Caspar  Spurzheim  was  born  in  December,  1776,  at  Longvick, 
a  village  on  the  Moselle,  about  seven  miles  from  the  city  of  Treves,  in 
the  lower  circle  of  the  Rhine.  He  studied  medicine  at  Vienna,  and 
becoming  a  pupil  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Gall,  almost  outdid  his  teacher 
in  his  enthusiasm  for  the  science  (so  called)  of  Phrenology.  In  1805 


THE   MONUMENT    TO   SPURZHEIM.  41 

he  undertook,  with  his  master,  a  course  of  travels  through  various 
parts  of  central  Europe,  to  disseminate  phrenological  doctrines,  and  to 
examine  the  heads  of  criminals  and  others  in  the  public  institutions. 
Some  of  these  examinations  are  said  to  have  been  very  remarkable  in 
their  results ;  and  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  great  Cuvier, 
these  two  sanguine  associates  were  successful  in  leading  a  multitude 
of  individuals  to  place  full  reliance  in  the  possibility  of  ascertaining 
the  intellectual  and  moral  traits  of  man  and  animals,  from  the  config- 
uration of  their  heads.  Dr.  Spurzheim  pursued  his  travels  also  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  France,  the  grand  themes  of  his  discourses 
being  the  anatomy,  physiology,  and  pathology  of  the  brain.  As  an 
anatomical  investigator  of  the  brain,  his  skill  is  universally  acknowl- 
edged ;  and  in  the  development  of  the  structure  of  this  organ,  his  re- 
searches have  been  of  much  benefit  to  science.  In  1821,  he  took  up 
his  residence  in  Paris,  believing  that  in  that  vast  city  he  should  meet 
with  the  best  opportunities  of  teaching  his  doctrines  to  students  from 
all  parts  of  the  world.  His  lectures,  however,  were  prohibited  by  the 
French  government;  and  in  1825  he  passed  over  to  London,  where 
he  published  various  works  in  connection  with  the  peculiar  subject  of 
his  favorite  investigations,  and  also  upon  the  functions  of  the  nervous 
system.  He  visited  the  principal  cities  of  England  and  Scotland,  and 
gained  converts  to  his  doctrines  in  almost  all  of  them.  The  propaga- 
tors of  new  opinions  rarely  fail  to  find  supporters ;  and  the  more  inge- 
nious the  theory — the  more  fascinating  the  manner  of  the  expounder, 
the  more  enthusiastic  and  stubborn  are  the  proselytes  who  assume  the 
defence.  Time  at  length  presents  the  touchstone  of  immortal  truth ; 
and  though  it  sometimes  takes  years  to  apply  the  test,  yet  delusion 
sooner  or  later  subsides,  where  there  is  no  foundation  for  its  contin- 


42  MOUNT   AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

uance.  At  the  present  epoch,  the  confidence  once  placed  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  phrenologists  appears  to  have  much  abated.  I'm v  science 
has  fixed  laws  which  are  ever  true;  and  there  is  a  wide  gulf  between 
absolutely  practical  knowledge,  and  that  belief  which  proceeds  from 
unsubstantiated  theory.  The  industry  and  zeal  of  Spur/heim  mi^lit 
undoubtedly  have  been  more  subservient  to  the  good  of  mankind,  had 
they  been  applied  to  some  other  study  than  phrenology. 

In  1832,  the  indefatigable  pupil  of  Gall  determined  to  try  a  new 
field  of  labor,  and  he  therefore  sailed  from  Havre  for  the  United 
States.  He  came  to  this  country,  it  is  said,  with  a  twofold  purpose  : 
to  study  the  genius  and  character  of  our  people,  and  to  propagate  the 
doctrines  of  phrenology.  His  career  in  America  is  too  well  remem- 
bered to  require  any  prolixity  of  detail  in  these  pages.  He  was  em- 
phatically an  enthusiast,  and  undeniably  an  indefatigable  student;  he 
was  urbane  in  his  social  deportment ;  kind  to  his  friends  and  charita- 
ble to  his  opponents ;  liberal  towards  the  views  of  others,  and  benev- 
olent to  the  whole  family  of  man.  He  was  a  Christian  in  his  faith 
and  hopes ;  and  here  he  was  humble-minded,  as  the  sincere  believer, 
the  faithful  hoper  should  ever  be.  Professor  Follen  says  of  him,  that 
"  whatever  particular  form  of  faith  he  may  have  preferred,  he  firmly 
believed  in  the  essential  truths  of  natural  and  revealed  religion.  He 
adopted  Christianity  as  a  divine  system,  chiefly  on  the  ground  of  its 
great  internal  evidence,  its  perfect  adaptation  to  human  nature,  and  the 
spirit  of  truth  and  divine  philanthropy  which  gives  life  to  all  its  pre- 
cepts. All  morality,  he  thought,  was  contained  in  these  two  precepts, 
— 'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.' 
All  prayers,  he  thought,  were  comprised  in  this  one, — 'Father,  thy  iri/l 
be  done.'" 


THE   MONUMENT    TO   SPURZHEIM.  43 

Whilst  in  Boston,  he  tasked  himself  severely  in  public  lectures  be- 
fore schools  and  societies ;  and  the  value  of  his  remarks  upon  that 
important  topic,  "physical  education,"  are  gratefully  admitted.  His 
great  intellectual  efforts,  together  with  the  effects  of  our  climate,  much 
impaired  his  health.  He  became  sick  with  fever  ;  medical  advice  was 
unavailing;  and  he  breathed  his  last  on  the  10th  of  November,  1832. 
The  Boston  Medical  Association  as  a  body,  and  a  voluntary  procession 
of  citizens,  escorted  his  remains  from  the  old  South  Church,  where  the 
burial-service  was  performed,  to  the  cemetery  of  Park-street  Church, 
where  they  were  deposited  until  the  tomb  at  Mount  Auburn  could  be 
prepared.  The  monument  which  the  engraving  delineates,  was  the 
result  of  a  movement  amongst  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  who  ad- 
mired him  as  a  man  and  a  lecturer,  irrespectively  of  his  peculiar 
tenets ;  but  the  expense  was  eventually  defrayed  by  the  liberality  of 
the  Hon.  Wm.  Sturgis  of  Boston.  America's  tribute  to  this  native  of 
the  old  world,  in  the  language  of  one  of  his  biographers,  is  thus  "  a 
grave  and  a  monument." 


THE  LOWELL  MONUMENT. 


. 

And,  as  his  body  lies  enshrined  in  the  bosom  of  his  mother  earth,  we  can  say,  in  the  fulness  of 
our  hearts,  Peace  to  his  slumbers.     He  needs  no  monument  to  perpetuate  his  memory  ; 

'  His  monument  shall  be  his  name  alone.1  " 

[ANONYMOUS. 


THE  imposing  monumental  structure,  which  the  engraving  accu- 
rately represents,  is  constructed  of  granite,  and  stands  in  Willow 
Avenue.  The  name  of  "  LOWELL"  is  carved,  in  raised  letters,  upon 
its  front,  and  is  never  read  by  the  wanderers  from  the  city  and  its  ad- 
jacent regions,  without  a  feeling  of  pride,  in  the  memories  which  it 
brings  up  of  a  generation  of  eminent  men, — benefactors  to  New  Eng- 
land, whether  regarded  as  enterprising  merchants,  lawyers,  or  lovers 
of  science  and  literature.  Our  neighboring  town  of  LOWELL,  cele- 
brated for  its  manufactures,  received  its  name  in  honor  of  the  late 
Francis  C.  Lowell,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  one  of  the  first  who  introduced 
that  magnificent  enterprise,  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  into  the  United 
States.  The  "  Lowell  Institute,"  that  fostering  foundation  for  the  at- 


THE   LOWELL   MONUMENT.  45 

tainment  and  diffusion  of  scientific  knowledge,  bears  the  name  of  its 
munificent  founder, — the  late  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  (son  of  Francis  C. 
Lowell,) — and  is  an  establishment  which,  in  its  conception  and  design, 
has  no  parallel,  either  in  our  own  country  or  in  Europe.  "  The  idea 
of  a  foundation  of  this  kind,"  says  Edward  Everett,  "  on  which,  un- 
connected with  any  place  of  education,  provision  is  made,  in  the  midst 
of  a  large  commercial  population,  for  annual  courses  of  instruction  by 
public  lectures,  to  be  delivered  gratuitously  to  all  who  choose  to  attend 
them,  as  far  as  is  practicable  within  our  largest  hall,  is,  I  believe,  origi- 
nal with  Mr.  Lowell." 

The  monument  to  which  we  have  thus  alluded,  was  erected  by  the 
executors  of  the  late  JOHN  LOWELL,  Jr.,  to  the  memory  of  his  wife,  an 
amiable  and  accomplished  woman,  who  died  a  few  years  after  their 
marriage,  and  of  his  two  daughters,  his  only  children,  who  did  not 
long  survive  their  mother.  The  monument  bears  this  simple  inscrip- 
tion :— 

ETIECTED 


BY   ORDER   OF 


JOHN    LOWELL,    JR., 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

HIS    WIFE    AND    CHILDREN, 

AS  A 

TESTIMONIAL  OF  THEIR  VIRTUES, 

AND  OF 

HIS   AFFECTIONATE  REMEMBRANCE. 


-16  MOUNT   AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

Mr.  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  the  son  of  Francis  C.  Lowell,  Esq.,  who  is 
still  fresh  I  v  remembered  amongst  us,  as  one  of  those  who  have  re- 
flected high  honor  on  the  character  of  the  "American  merchant,"  was 
also  the  grandson  of  the  late  Judge  Lowell,  whose  father,  the  Rev. 
John  Lowell,  was  the  first  minister  at  Newburyport.  He  "was  among 
those,"  says  Mr.  Everett,  "  who  enjoyed  the  public  trust  and  confidence 
in  the  times  which  tried  men's  souls,  and  bore  his  part  in  the  greatest 
work  recorded  in  the  annals  of  constitutional  liberty — the  American 
Revolution." 

Mr.  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  was  born  on  the  13th  of  May,  1799,  and  was 
indebted  both  to  his  own  country  and  to  England,  for  the  diversified 
education  he  received.  In  early  life,  he  had  accompanied  his  father 
in  extensive  travels ;  and  he  seems  to  have  explored  thoroughly  the 
most  interesting  sections  of  the  Old  World.  The  renowned  East  had 
charms  for  his  young  ambition,  and  excited  many  enterprising  plans 
for  future  research  and  discovery. 

After  the  occurrence,  in  1830-31,  of  the  afflictive  domestic  events 
to  which  we  have  before  referred,  Mr.  Lowell's  love  of  foreign  travel 
revived ;  and  he  quitted  his  native  land  in  1832,  with  the  intention  of 
spending  some  years  abroad.  He  first  visited  Great  Britain,  France, 
Central  and  Southern  Europe,  and  then  crossed  from  Smyrna  to  Alex- 
andria. That  section  of  the  East,  celebrated  as  the  "land  of  the 
Pharaohs,"  the  primitive  cradle  of  the  early  arts,  possessed  peculiar 
charms  for  his  inquiring  mind  ; — but  his  travels  in  that  country  proved 
fatal  to  his  health.  Disease  assailed  him ;  and  an  illness  occasioned 
by  exposure  and  fatigue  on  his  tour  through  the  East,  terminated  his 
valuable  life  at  Bombay,  where  a  simple  monument  marks  his  rest- 
ing-place. Had  he  lived,  it  was  his  intention  to  have  himself  erected 


THE   LOWELL   MONUMENT.  47 

the  monument  at  Mount  Auburn ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  left  no  design 
for  such  a  structure,  and  it  thus  became  the  duty  of  others,  faithfully 
to  carry  out  his  wishes. 

We  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Lowell  as  the  founder  of  the  "  Lowell  In- 
stitute ;"  and  it  was  in  Egypt  that  he  devised  the  establishment  which 
bears  his  name,  and  bequeathed  the  munificent  sum  of  $250,000  to 
carry  his  desires  into  execution.  The  object  of  this  splendid  bequest, 
was  the  "  maintenance  and  support  of  public  lectures,  to  be  delivered 
in  Boston,  upon  philosophy,  natural  history,  the  arts  and  sciences,  or 
any  of  them,  as  the  trustee  shall,  from  time  to  time,  deem  expedient 
for  the  promotion  of  the  moral,  and  intellectual,  and  physical  instruc- 
tion or  education  of  the  citizens  of  Boston."  A  codicil  to  this  will 
gives  directions  for  the  furtherance  of  his  design,  as  follows : — 

"As  the  most  certain  and  the  most  important  part  of  true  philoso- 
phy, appears  to  me  to  be  that  which  shows  the  connection  between 
God's  revelations,  and  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  implanted  by 
him  in  our  nature,  I  wish  a  course  of  lectures  to  be  given  on  natural 
religion,  showing  its  conformity  to  that  of  our  Saviour." 

"  For  the  more  perfect  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  those  moral 
and  religious  precepts,  by  which  alone,  as  I  believe,  men  can  be  secure 
of  happiness  in  this  wrorld  and  that  to  come,  I  wish  a  course  of  lec- 
tures to  be  delivered  on  the  historical  and  internal  evidences  in  favor 
of  Christianity.  I  wish  all  disputed  points  of  faith  and  ceremony  to 
be  avoided ;  and  the  attention  of  the  lecturers  to  be  directed  to  the 
moral  doctrines  of  the  gospel, — stating  their  opinion,  if  they  will,  but 
not  engaging  in  controversy,  even  on  the  subject  of  the  penalty  of  dis- 
obedience." 

"As  the  prosperity  of  my  native  land,  New  England,  which  is  sterile 


48  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

and  unproductive,  must  depend  hereafter,  as  it  has  heretofore  de- 
pended, first,  on  the  moral  qualities,  and,  second,  on  the  intelligence 
and  information  of  its  inhabitants,  1  am  desirous  of  trying  to  con- 
tribute towards  this  second  object  also;  and  I  wish  courses  of  lectures 
to  be  established  on  physics  and  chemistry,  with  their  application  to 
the  arts ;  also,  on  botany,  zoology,  geology,  and  mineralogy,  connected 
with  their  particular  utility  to  man." 

"After  the  establishment  of  these  courses  of  lectures,  should  dispo- 
sable funds  remain,  or,  in  process  of  time,  be  accumulated,  the  trustee 
may  appoint  courses  of  lectures  to  be  delivered  on  the  literature  and 
eloquence  of  our  language,  and  even  on  those  of  foreign  nations,  if  he 
see  fit.  He  may  also,  from  time  to  time,  establish  lectures  on  any  sub- 
ject that,  in  his  opinion,  the  wants  and  tastes  of  the  age  may  de- 
mand." 

"As  infidel  opinions  appear  to  me  injurious  to  society,  and  easily  to 
insinuate  themselves  into  a  man's  dissertations  on  any  subject,  how- 
ever remote  from  religion,  no  man  ought  to  be  appointed  a  lecturer, 
who  is  not  willing  to  declare,  and  who  does  not  previously  declare,  his 
belief  in  the  divine  revelation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  leav- 
ing the  interpretation  thereof  to  his  own  conscience." 

The  above  extract  from  that  part  of  Mr.  Lowell's  will  which  relates 
to  this  prominent  bequest,  at  once  develops  his  whole  character  as  a 
Christian,  a  philanthropist,  and  a  scholar,  and  reflects  more  honor 
upon  him  than  whole  volumes  of  biography. 

The  first  lecture  of  the  Lowell  Institute  was  delivered  in  the  Boston 
Odeon,  (formerly  the  Federal-street  Theatre,)  on  the  31st  of  Decem- 
ber, 1839.  It  was  an  introductory  lecture, — being  very  properly  a 
memoir  of  its  founder, — and  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  Edward  Ev- 


THE    LOWELL   MONUMENT.  49 

erett.  From  that  time  to  the  present,  the  will  of  the  testator  has  been 
strictly  carried  out.  Five  courses  of  lectures  have  been  delivered  on 
Natural  Religion ;  four,  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity ;  five,  on 
Geology ;  four,  on  Botany ;  three,  on  Astronomy ;  and  three,  on  Chem- 
istry :  one  course  has  been  given  upon  Electricity  and  Electro-mag- 
netism; one  course,  on  Comparative  Anatomy;  one  course,  on  the 
Mechanical  Laws  of  Matter;  one  course,  on  American  History;  one 
course,  on  Ancient  Egypt ;  one  course,  on  Optics ;  one  course,  on 
Architecture ;  one  course,  on  the  Military  Art ;  one  course,  on  the 
Plan  of  Creation,  as  shown  in  the  Animal  Kingdom ;  and  one  course, 
on  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Milton.  Each  course  has  consisted  of 
twelve  lectures ;  and  these  have  been  given  in  the  evening,  whilst  the 
majority  have  been  repeated  in  the  afternoon,  for  the  better  accommo- 
dation of  the  public, — tickets  being  issued  for  separate  courses.  The 
whole  number  of  tickets  issued  up  to  the  present  time,  has  been 
162,309  ;  whilst  the  number  of  those  who  have  applied  for  them  has 
been  198,658.  The  whole  number  of  lectures  has  been  370. 

And  now,  in  view  of  these  brief  statistics,  will  it  be  presumptuous 
to  ask, — Who  can  tell  or  foresee  the  consequences  of  these  gratuitous 
lectures  1  One  fact,  illustrated  and  proved  in  science,  philosophy,  re- 
ligion, or  letters,  may  excite  a  curiosity  and  spirit  of  investigation, 
which  shall  arouse  dormant  intellect,  and  add  another  to  the  proud  list 
of  the  world's  benefactors.  The  spirit  of  investigation — that  prying 
curiosity  which  spurs  man  on  to  energetic  action,  or  involves  him  in 
deep  and  studious  contemplation — has  perhaps  bestowed  more  benefits 
on  mankind,  than  the  most  brilliant  gifts  of  genius.  How  little  did 
the  Pharsalian  rustic,  when  he  detected  the  electric  power  of  amber, 
think  that  the  little  spark  which  he  produced  from  it,  was,  in  every 


50  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

respect  but  intensity,  the  same  power  which  cleft  the  oak  that  over- 
shadowed him ;  and  he  who  first  noted  the  phenomena  of  the  load- 
stone, how  little  did  he  anticipate  the  consequences  of  the  discovery ! 
Hundreds  of  philosophers  had  passed  by,  unheeded,  the  hints  of  two 
obscure  men  respecting  the  motion  of  the  earth, — but  the  investigating 
spirit  of  Copernicus  found  in  them  the  germs  of  his  immortality. 

It  is  thus  that  we  are  indebted  to  patient  research,  for  so  much  that 
conduces  to  knowledge  and  comfort  But  Curiosity  must  be  first  ex- 
cited ;  and  where  is  that  lever  to  be  applied,  that  spirit  roused,  with  so 
much  hope  of  the  future,  as  in  the  lecture-room  of  the  Lowell  In- 
stitute ? — an  establishment  which  can  afford  amply  to  remunerate  the 
most  profound  of  our  scientific  men,  the  most  competent  of  our  theo- 
logians and  men  of  letters, — where  so  many  minds,  of  such  variety, 
capacity,  and  proclivity,  are  brought  together,  "without  money  and 
without  price,"  to  learn  truths  in  morals,  the  arts,  science,  and  natural 
philosophy.  Curiosity  once  excited,  who  shall  declare  the  limit  of  its 
researches  ?  In  the  language  of  that  great  projector,  who  pointed  the 
wealth  of  a  vast  and  once  almost  inaccessible  region,  into  the  bosom 
of  the  powerful  commercial  mart  of  the  north,  and  who  well  knew 
the  omnipotence  of  knowledge, — "  It  feels  no  danger,  it  spares  no  ex- 
pense, it  omits  no  exertion.  It  scales  the  mountain — looks  into  the 
volcano — dives  into  the  ocean — perforates  the  earth — wings  its  flight 
into  the  skies — enriches  the  globe — explores  sea  and  land — contem- 
plates the  distant — examines  the  minute — comprehends  the  great — as- 
cends to  the  sublime.  No  place  is  too  remote  for  its  grasp ;  no  heav- 
ens too  exalted  for  its  research."  It  was  this  noble  curiosity  which 
held  the  torch  that  lighted  Newton  through  the  skies ;  and  it  is  the 
same  spirit  that  has  unlocked  the  caskets  which  contained  so  many 


THE   LOWELL   MONUMENT.  51 

secrets  in  mechanics — facilitating  the  progress  of  so  many  useful  arts, 
and  reducing  to  practical  reality  so  many  theories  that  would,  less 
than  a  century  ago,  have  been  pronounced  the  dreams  of  delirium, — 
the  application  of  steam-power,  and  the  practicability  of  the  magnetic 
telegraph,  being  the  latest  examples.  "Knowledge  is  power;"  and, 
although  the  paths  which  lead  to  it  may  be  rough  and  troublesome, 
they  lead  us  to  pure  fountains  and  healthful  eminences.  He  whose 
munificence,  in  1839,  enabled  the  citizens  of  Boston  to  avail  them- 
selves of  a  lecture-room,  where  they  might  not  only  gain  knowledge, 
but  become  avaricious  of  more,  may  emphatically  be  called  one  of  the 
world's  benefactors.  By  his  philanthropic  will,  as  we  have  shown,  he 
not  only  pointed  out  a  way  of  gaming  pure  scientific  knowledge,  but 
he  expressly  declared,  also,  that  some  portion  of  the  lecture  season 
should  be  devoted  to  the  dispensing  of  religious  truths — those  enno- 
bling doctrines  which  bind  man  to  man,  and  man  to  his  Creator.  He 
did  not  forget  the  paramount  importance  of  moral  excellence ;  and  he 
left  a  fortune  to  insure  the  labor  of  the  good  of  after  years,  in  giving 
the  great  principles  of  the  Gospel  fixedness  in  the  heart  of  man,  and 
a  greater  range  to  high  moral  feelings. 

In  the  eloquent  language  of  Edward  Everett,  therefore,  "let  the 
foundation  of  Mr.  Lowell  stand  on  the  principles  prescribed  by  him ; 
let  the  fidelity  with  which  it  is  now  administered,  continue  to  direct 
it ;  and  no  language  is  emphatic  enough  to  do  full  justice  to  its  im- 
portance. It  will  be,  from  generation  to  generation,  a  perennial 
source  of  public  good — a  dispensation  of  sound  science,  of  useful 
knowledge,  of  truth  in  its  most  important  associations  with  the  destiny 
of  man." 


THE    MONUMENT 


TO 


NOAH    WORCESTER. 


'  Our  birth  is  but  a  starting-place  ; 
Life  is  the  running  of  the  race, 

And  death  the  goal : 
There  all  our  steps  at  last  are  brought ; 
That  path  alone  of  all  unsought, 
Is  found  of  all." 

[Translation  from  Manrique. 


WE  love  to  wander  through  a  cemetery.  Every  monument  that  we 
pass  calls  up  a  recollection ;  the  heart  dilates  and  the  mind  expands, 
as  reflection  pursues  her  way,  and  whilst  judgment  sums  up  the  value 
of  a  moral,  well-directed  life.  It  was  nearing  sunset  when,  in  our 
meditations  at  Mount  Auburn,  we  passed  the  grave  of  WORCESTER — 
the  exemplary  divine — the  friend  of  humanity !  The  hour  itself  mel- 
lowed our  thoughts,  as  we  trod  upon  the  greensward  which  covered 
the  venerable  dead ;  and  the  quiet  of  all  things  around  us  seemed  pe- 
culiarly appropriate  to  our  happy  recollections  of  this  "friend  of 
peace."  Above  us,  the  beautiful  clouds,  just  tinged  with  the  glow  of 


WORCESTER'S    MONUMENT.  53 

sunset,  appeared  to  be  as  soft  and  lovely  as  the  memories  of  those  who 
had  departed  life  in  serenity  and  hope ;  and,  in  the  language  of  an 
eloquent  writer,  "the  gorgeous  pile  of  clouds  towards  which  they 
were  moving,  seemed  to  teach  us  that  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  those  we 
loved,  should  be  swallowed  up  in  the  bright  hope  of  a  reunion ;  the 
changing  clouds,  now  purple  and  now  crimson,  appeared  as  if  mocking 
at  the  works  of  mortal  hands ;  but  the  calm  serenity  of  the  east,  from 
which  all  clouds  had  passed  away,  seemed  as  if  preparing  for  a 
brighter  and  a  purer  dawn.  As  all  those  vapors  crowding  to  the  west, 
increased  the  glory  of  the  sunset  hour,  so  trials  sustained,  and  tempta- 
tions overcome,  add  lustre  to  the  departure  of  the  pious, — even  the 
shadows  deepening  around,  speak  of  peace  and  calm,  and  please  rather 
than  chill  the  sensibilities." 

Noah  Worcester  had  his  trials ;  but  he  passed  through  them  as 
"  gold  through  the  refiner's  fire."  Neither  poverty  nor  illness  checked 
his  efforts  for  self-improvement,  or  the  elevation  of  his  kind ;  his  de- 
votion to  the  good  of  humanity  and  the  cause  of  freedom  was,  like  that 
of  the  great  Channing,  both  high  and  holy ;  and  he  died,  as  he  had 
lived,  the  "  friend  of  peace,"  receiving  the  reverence  and  praises  of 
mankind,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  ministry  amongst  whom  he  was  a 
brother  and  a  friend.  "  Beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of 
him  that  bringeth  glad  tidings — that  publisheth  peace."  With  a  full 
conviction  of  the  purity  and  truth  of  the  quotation,  he  sought  to  do 
his  part  in  proclaiming  the  propriety  of  that  peace  which  is  the  oppo- 
site of  war ;  and  beautiful  were  his  footsteps,  as  he  walked  in  his  self- 
appointed  path,  humbly  showing  forth  the  philosophy  of  his  simple 
doctrines, 

And  who  would  not  muse  near  such  a  monument  ?     The  changes 


64  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

and  chances  of  human  life  are  strongly  and  curiously  woven  together 
in  the  career  of  Noah  Worcester ;  and  we  cannot  go  over  his  biogra- 
phy, without  seeing  that  the  web  of  life  is  indeed  a  mingled  tissue. 
At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  when  a  lad  of 
about  seventeen,  he  joined  the  army  as  a  fifer.  Afterwards,  (in  1777,) 
he  became  fife-major,  maintaining  this  latter  office  for  two  months ; 
and  then,  disgusted  with  warlike  service,  he  quitted  the  camp  to  teach 
a  village  school — very  inadequately  prepared,  however,  for  such  a 
duty.  At  this  time,  he  was  deficient  in  the  art  of  writing,  and  had 
never  seen  a  dictionary.  Both  in  writing  and  spelling,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  educate  himself,  and  he  did  this  effectually ;  although,  like  so 
many  before  and  since  his  time,  he  had  fallen  in  love,  and  had  deter- 
mined on  matrimony.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  had  married  an 
interesting  and  capable  girl,  and  had  "settled  himself  down,"  as  he 
thought,  as  a  small  farmer  in  Plymouth,  N.  H.  Thus  far,  his  life 
hardly  promised  any  great  results ;  and  his  education  certainly  forbade 
any  expectations  of  the  works  which  followed.  He  had  a  pious 
mind,  however,  and  a  firm  religious  belief, — that  which  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy  has  called  the  "greatest  of  earthly  blessings."  It  was  this 
which  made  his  life  "  a  discipline  of  goodness ;  created  new  hopes 
when  all  other  hopes  vanished;  and  called  up  beauty  and  divinity 
from  corruption  and  decay." 

In  1782,  he  was  a  resident  of  the  town  of  Thornton,  where,  to 
support  his  increasing  family,  he  worked  at  the  lapstone,  and  cogitated 
upon  those  doctrines  of  faith,  which  afterwards  led  him  to  write  down 
his  thoughts — to  print  and  publish.  In  1786,  he  had  been  examined 
for  the  ministry ;  and  was  speedily  ordained  over  a  church  in  Thorn- 
ton, having  previously  served  in  many  public  trusts, — been  schoolmas- 


WORCESTER'S    MONUMENT.  55 

ter,  selectman,  town-clerk,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  representative  to 
the  general  court.  For  twenty-three  years  he  continued  rector  of 
this  church,  studying  to  improve  himself  all  the  while  in  useful  knowl- 
edge, and  giving  deep  attention  to  the  examination  of  theological 
points. 

He  always  read  and  studied  with  his  pen  in  hand ;  and  was  enabled 
in  this  way  to  preserve  many  valuable  original  observations  and 
deductions,  and  to  stamp  in  his  memory  whatever  was  worth  being 
preserved  in  its  archives.  He  was  the  first  missionary  of  New 
Hampshire — in  himself  a  beloved  auxiliary  of  the  gospel  cause,  and  a 
faithful  teacher  throughout  all  the  northern  towns  of  that  state.  In 
1809,  we  find  him  rector  of  a  church  in  Salisbury,  N.  H. — a  town 
now  famed  as  the  birthplace  of  Daniel  Webster,  and  where  Mr.  Wor- 
cester expounded  his  own  views  of  Christianity  as  fearlessly  and 
nobly,  as  that  great  statesman  has  defended  the  Constitution  of  his 
country  at  Washington.  And  now  he  began  to  be  known  to  the 
world,  and  to  take  his  place  in  theological  history.  Being  brought  up 
a  Calvinist,  he  changed  his  views  from  conviction  of  error ;  he  wrote 
a  publication  showing  his  reasons  of  disbelief  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity;  and  afterwards  published  his  "Letters  to  Trinitarians,"  "a 
work,"  says  the  lamented  Channing,  "breathing  the  very  spirit  of  the 
Saviour,  and  intended  to  teach,  that  diversities  of  opinions  on  subjects 
the  most  mysterious  and  perplexing,  ought  not  to  sever*  friends,  to  dis- 
solve the  Christian  tie,  or  to  divide  the  church."  From  this  moment, 
the  intellectual  life  of  this  good  man  assumes  an  intense  interest ;  he 
was  developing  more  and  more  the  action  of  a  devout  and  inquisitive 
mind,  and  amiably  and  manfully  striving  to  avoid  that  dangerous 
quicksand — the  arrogance  of  sectarianism. 


66  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

Dr.  Ware  says  of  him,  that  "with  the  profound  consciousness  of 
truth,  he  came  out  from  his  anxiety,  his  studies,  his  controversies,  and 
his  sorrows,  \\ith  a  liberality  as  wide  as  Christendom,  and  a  modesty 
as  gentle  as  his  love  of  truth  was  strong."  But  now  he  was  to  assume 
other  duties;  and,  at  the  instigation  of  his  friends,  the  late  Drs.  C ban- 
ning, Tuckermau,  and  Thacher,  and  the  present  Dr.  Lowell,  he  re- 
moved to  Brighton,  Mass.,  in  1813,  and  commenced  editing  a  new 
religious  periodical,  entitled  "  The  Christian  Disciple."  He  gathered 
around  him  here,  a  delightful  circle  of  friends,  and  realized  in  them 
the  true  enjoyment  of  high  culture  and  elevated  purpose.  This  work 
was  the  advocate  of  Christian  liberty  and  charity,  and  has  now  be- 
come merged  in  that  well-sustained  Unitarian  periodical,  the  "  Chris- 
tian Examiner."  His  thoughts  became  more  and  more  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  ;  and  he  sought  to  analyze  the  subject  of  War, 
whether  as  opposed  to,  or  agreeing  with,  the  doctrines  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  following  passage  explains  his  views  upon  this  great 
theme,  as  interesting  to  us  now,  as  it  could  possibly  have  been  at  the 
time  of  writing : 

"  I  can  say  with  the  greatest  truth,  that  I  am  unacquainted  with  any 
errors  which  have  been  adopted  by  any  sect  of  Christians,  which  ap- 
pear to  me  more  evidential  of  a  depraved  heart,  than  those  which 
sanction  war,  and  dispose  men  to  glory  in  slaughtering  one  another. 
If  a  man,  apparently  of  good  character,  avows  a  belief  that  human 
infants  are  not  by  nature  totally  sinful,  there  are  a  multitude  of 
churches  who  would  refuse  to  admit  him  to  their  fellowship.  Yet 
another  man,  who  believes  in  the  doctrine  of  total  sinfulness  by  na- 
ture, may  perhaps  be  admitted  to  their  communion,  with  his  hands 
reeking  with  the  blood  of  many  brethren,  whom  he  has  wantonly 


WORCESTER'S   MONUMENT.  57 

slain  in  the  games  of  war,  and  this,  too,  while  he  justifies  those  fash- 
ionable murders  !"  Following  out  these  principles,  he  "  gave  vent  to 
his  whole  soul,"  says  Dr.  Ware,  "  in  that  remarkable  tract,  A  Solemn 
Review  of  the  Custom  of  War, — one  of  the  most  successful  and  efficient 
pamphlets  of  any  period."  The  publication  of  this  production  was 
followed  by  the  formation  of  the  Massachusetts  Peace  Society,  and  by 
the  commencement  of  a  quarterly  issue,  called  "  The  Friend  of  Peace." 
This  he  continued  for  ten  years,  being  almost  its  only  contributor, — 
but  so  managing  to  vary  the  illustrations  of  his  subjects,  as  to  make 
the  articles  appear  as  if  written  by  different  individuals — a  tact  as  un- 
common as  admirable,  and  most  abundantly  proving  both  the  ardent 
zeal  which  he  brought  to  the  subject,  and  the  great  versatility  of  his 
powers  of  thought. 

He  was  in  heart  and  deed  a  philanthropist.  The  subject  of  slavery 
occupied  his  mind,  in  connection  with  other  topics  immediately  con- 
cerning the  good  of  humanity ;  but  his  last  days  were  devoted  espe- 
cially to  religious  investigations,  and  he  prepared  two  theological 
works.  The  "Atonement"  was  the  subject  of  one,  and  "Human  De- 
pravity" of  the  other.  He  wrote  diffusely,  but  yet  with  clearness; 
and  in  the  resources  of  his  thoughtful  mind,  he  found  the  material  for 
happy  occupation.  Dr.  Channing,  in  his  remarks  upon  the  life  and 
character  of  Dr.  Worcester,  has  said :  "  I  am  always  happy  to  express 
my  obligations  to  the  benefactors  of  my  mind ;  and  I  owe  it  to  Dr. 
Worcester  to  say,  that  my  acquaintance  with  him  gave  me  clearer 
comprehension  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  of  the  dignity  of  a 
man." 

Physical  suffering  exhausted  this  venerable  man  towards  the  close 
of  life ;  but  it  had  the  effect  to  call  forth  those  bright  traits  of  his 

8 


58  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

character,  which  are  best  expressed  by  the  words  submission  and  for- 
bearance. "  I  recollect,"  says  Dr.  Channing,  "  no  discord  in  his  beau- 
tiful life.  All  my  impressions  of  him  are  harmonious.  Peace  beamed 
from  his  venerable  countenance." 

Noah  Worcester  lived  and  died  the  friend  of  Humanity  ;  and  it  has 
been  through  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  his  friends,  tb  at  the 
monument  to  his  memory  has  been  erected  at  Mount  Auburn.  This 
simple  tribute  is  of  white  marble,  and  stands  on  the  corner  of  Laurel 
md  Walnut  Avenues.  The  inscription  is  as  follows : 

On  one  side : 

TO 
NOAH   WORCESTER,   D.  D. 

ERECTED   BY   HIS   FRIENDS, 
IN      COMMEMORATION      OF      ZEALOUS      LABORS 

IN 

THE   CAUSE   OF   PEACE; 

AND  OF 
THC    MEEKNESS,    BENIGNITY,    AND   CONSISTENCY 

or 
HIS    CHARACTER 

AS   A 

CHRISTIAN  PHILANTHROPIST  AND  DIVINE. 
"  SPEAKING  THE  TRUTH  is  LOVK." 


WORCESTER'S   MONUMENT.  59 

On  the  other  side ; 

NOAH   WORCESTER: 

BORN  AT  HOLLIS,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  NOVEMBER  25,  1758: 
DIED  AT  BRIGHTON,  MASSACHUSETTS,  OCTOBER  31,  1837. 

AGED  79  YEARS. 

"  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  children  of  God." 


CENTRAL  SQUARE. 


"  Mighty  shades, 

Waving  their  gorgeous  tracery  o'er  the  head, 
With  the  light  melting  through  their  high  arcades, 
As  through  a  pillar'd  cloister's." 

[MRS.  HEMANS. 


THE  ground  represented  in  the  engraving,  and  denominated  "  Cen- 
tral Square,"  was  originally  reserved  as  a  situation  for  some  future 
public  monument.  It  is  an  excellent  position  for  such  design.  Va- 
rious shady  avenues  open  from  this  square ;  and  its  immediate  neigh- 
borhood seems  to  have  been  chosen  by  many  individuals,  as  the  site 
for  their  last  resting-place.  At  present,  the  most  conspicuous  monu- 
ment near  the  square,  is  that  erected  to  the  memory  of  Miss  HANNAH 
ADAMS,  who  was  not  only  a  remarkably  gifted  woman,  but  was  the 
first  person  buried  in  Mount  Auburn.  In  the  words  of  the  poet,  we 
may  well  say  of  this  truly  estimable  individual,  that, 

"  Dear  to  the  good,  she  died  lamented." 


t^    1 


CENTRAL   SQUARE.  61 

Miss  Adains  had  passed  through  life,  indulging  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  nature ;  and  the  grove,  the  stream,  the  rock,  the  mountain- 
fastness — flowers,  trees,  and  shrubs — each  had  their  charms  for  one 
whose  mind  continually  fostered  an  indwelling  spirit  of  beauty.  Rev- 
erence for  all  things  which  were  "  true,  honest,  and  of  good  report," 
being  a  part  of  her  character,  she  necessarily  cherished  a  delight  in 
the  true  and  the  beautiful ;  whilst  her  propensity  was  to  magnify  the 
Creator  of  "  every  good  and  perfect  gift,"  rather  than  to  dwell  upon 
the  imperfections  and  weakness  of  finite  man.  It  seemed  meet,  there- 
fore, that  when  she  was  called  to  yield  up  her  existence,  she  should  be 
buried  on  the  breezy  hill,  among  the  wild  flowers  she  had  loved,  and 
amidst  a  scene  like  some  of  those  around  her  village  home,  where  she 
had  so  often  "  drunk  in  the  melody  which  the  song-bird  scatters,"  and 
filled  her  soul  to  overflowing  with  lofty  communings. 

Miss  Adams  was  a  remarkable  woman  in  this  country,  for  the  time 
in  which  she  lived ;  and  her  intellect  alone  would  have  entitled  her  to 
respect  and  veneration  anywhere.  She  was  almost  entirely  a  self- 
cultivated  person.  In  her  youth,  there  were  few  advantages  for  female 
education ;  and  she  deeply  regretted  the  want  she  had  felt  of  a  proper 
and  systematic  intellectual  training,  through  the  means  of  such  semi- 
naries of  learning  as  were  afterwards  established  for  the  progress  of 
her  sex.  She  has  left  an  example,  however,  of  what  a  strong  and 
well-directed  mind  can  accomplish,  by  assiduity  and  discipline,  in  de- 
spite of  the  accidental  circumstances  of  time.  In  piety  and  virtue, 
faith  and  truth,  she  may  well  be  an  honorable  pattern  for  the  female 
youth  of  any  generation. 

Miss  Adams  was  born  in  Medfield,  Mass.,  in  1755,  and  died  in 
BrookliLe,  Mass.,  in  1831 — being  seventy-six  years  old.  She  was  the 


62  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

author  of  several  valuable  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  period 
in  which  she  wrote,  amongst  which  are  her  "  Views  of  Religion,"  first 
published  in  1784;  "A  History  .of  New  England,"  printed  in  1799; 
"  The  Truth  and  Excellence  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  published  in 
1804;  and  her  celebrated  "History  of  the  Jews,"  completed  in  1812. 
The  difficulties  which  beset  her  path  as  an  author,  are  such  as  are 
common  in  the  lives  of  writers,  both  before  and  since  her  day.  Her 
inexperience  in  the  "ways  and  means"  of  publishers;  her  modesty 
and  want  of  self-reliance,  combined  with  her  straitened  circumstances, 
rendered  her,  in  various  instances,  the  dupe  of  individuals  whom  she 
employed  as  printers.  She  knew  not  how  to  make  her  bargains ;  and 
it  was  not  until  she  came  to  Boston,  and  was  made  acquainted  with 
the  late  reverend  and  venerable  Dr.  Freeman,  of  King's  Chapel,  that 
she  felt  she  had  a  friend  to  assist  her  properly  in  the  business  of  pub- 
lication. She  should,  in  justice,  have  realized  a  handsome  sum  from 
the  sale  of  the  above-named  works ;  but  though  they  sold  well,  she 
had  the  toil  of  preparation  and  research,  without  receiving  more  than 
a  paltry  stipend,  barely  sufficient  to  supply  her  pressing  necessities. 
In  arranging  with  her  publisher  about  her  "  Views  of  Religion,"  after 
procuring,  herself,  more  than  four  hundred  subscribers,  all  the  compen- 
sation she  was  able  to  obtain,  was  only  fifty  books ;  and  for  these  she 
was  left  to  find  a  sale,  after  the  printer  had  received  the  whole  of  the 
subscription  money.  Nevertheless,  her  spirits  retained  their  elastic 
power  through  the  many  struggles  she  was  compelled  to  make,  and 
whilst  laboring  with  feeble  health,  and  an  impaired  eyesight. 

The  father  of  Miss  Adams,  although  in  easy  circumstances  at  the 
time  of  her  birth,  afterwards  met  with  pecuniary  reverses,  from  which 
he  never  recovered ;  and  as  the  clouds  of  adversity  thickened,  she  felt 


CENTRAL  SQUARE  63 

necessitated,  in  early  years,  to  resort  to  various  humble  ways  to  obtain 
the  means  of  subsistence.  During  the  Revolutionary  war,  making 
lace,  spinning,  weaving,  braiding  straw,  keeping  school,  were  all  tried 
in  aid  of  her  support ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  most  of  these 
resources,  owing  to  contingent  circumstances,  became  unavailing,  she 
thought  of  her  notes  on  religion  and  literature,  (made  in  the  interim 
of  other  avocations,)  and  she  determined  to  enlarge  them  into  books, 
— though  she  has  been  heard  to  say,  that  weaving  lace  with  bobbins, 
was  more  profitable  during  the  war,  than  writing  books  was  after- 
wards. " It  was  desperation"  to  use  her  own  language,  " and  not 
vanity,  that  induced  me  to  publish." 

She  was  indebted  to  the  very  fact  of  her  father's  misfortunes,  for 
that  love  of  books  which,  aided  by  an  inquiring  mind,  has  served  to 
make  her,  at  this  day,  so  much  the  worthy  object  of  eulogy  and  re- 
membrance. Her  father  at  one  time  embarked  in  the  business  of  a 
country  trader ;  his  store  was  an  "  omnium  gatherum"  of  English  and 
West  India  goods,  drugs,  and  books.  Fond  of  reading  himself,  he 
naturally  directed  the  minds  of  his  children  to  those  unfailing  sources 
of  pleasure,  profit,  and  recreation,  which  good  books  afford;  he 
amassed  quite  a  library  for  those  times,  and  the  volumes  which  were 
left  upon  his  hands,  after  his  failure  in  business,  became  the  best  boon 
which  was  afforded  to  his  daughter.  She  often  expressed  her  regret 
that  she  had  read  too  much  light  literature ;  though  it  may  be  doubt- 
ed, we  think,  whether  a  mind  naturally  of  so  sober  and  practical  a 
character  as  was  that  of  Miss  Adams,  was  not  benefited  by  the  fancy 
reading  in  which  she  at  one  time  indulged.  It  may  have  brightened 
her  imagination,  aided  by  her  natural  good  sense,  and  it  may  have  im- 
parted to  a  sombre  cast  of  thought,  something  that  may  have  been 


64  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

wanted  of  spirit  and  beauty.  Her  readings  of  the  poets,  certainly, 
were  ever  a  source  of  happiness  to  her ;  and  when  she  enjoyed  nature, 
it  nas  much  in  the  same  spirit,  with  Thomson  and  Cowper.  " She 
culled  the  flowers,  before  she  examined  the  forest-trees  of  literature." 

In  the  large  and  valuable  libraries  of  her  zealous  young  friend,  the 
lamented  Buckminster,  and  of  her  venerable  admirer,  President  Adams 
of  Q,uincy,  she  gathered  much  knowledge,  which,  to  her  appreciating 
intellect,  we  doubt  not,  was  "  more  precious  than  rubies."  She  knew, 
as  Milton  has  expressed  it,  that  "books  are  not  absolutely  dead  things, 
but  do  contain  a  progeny  of  life  in  them,  to  be  as  active  as  the  soul 
was,  whose  progeny  they  are — that  they  preserved,  as  in  a  vial,  the 
purest  efficacy  and  extraction  of  that  living  intellect  that  bred  them." 
She  felt  that  "  a  good  book  is  the  precious  life-blood  of  a  master- 
spirit, embalmed  and  treasured  up  on  purpose  to  a  life  beyond  life." 
She  herself  wrote  nothing  that,  "  dying,  she  would  wish  to  blot ;"  and 
although  her  works  are  not  of  great  profundity,  they  were  essentially 
useful  at  the  time  she  wrote ;  and  even  in  these  days,  are  worthy  of 
reference. 

In  about  1804-5,  she  removed  to  Boston,  when,  at  the  instance  of 
some  female  friends,  aided  by  several  highly  respectable  gentlemen,  a 
life  annuity  was  obtained  for  her,  with  which,  and  frequent  acceptable 
presents  from  benevolent  persons  who  appreciated  her  talents,  and  to 
whom  she  was  much  endeared  for  her  unpretending  deportment,  gen- 
tleness, and  modesty,  she  was  enabled  to  pass  the  last  days  of  her  life 
in  ease  and  comfort 

Miss  Adams  was  a  competent  scholar  in  Greek  and  Latin,  in  which 
branches  of  a  learned  education  she  fitted  several  young  men  for  col- 
lege, although,  when  she  commenced  the  pursuit  of  the  dead  Ian- 


CENTRAL  SQUARE.  65 

guages,  the  world  around  her  was  inclined  to  laugh  at  her  aspirations. 
She  said  herself,  that  she  felt  "  as  if  she  were  drawing  upon  herself 
the  ridicule  of  society  !"  Happily  for  us,  those  days  are  past.  Though 
scarce  a  century  has  elapsed  since  the  birth  of  Miss  Adams,  the  neces- 
sity for  cultivated  female  teachers  is  everywhere  acknowledged ;  nay, 
female  education  of  a  high  order  cannot  be  dispensed  with ;  the  cul- 
ture of  the  mind  is  a  positive  demand.  Every  mother  ought  to  be  an 
intellectual  and  spiritual  woman,  that  she  may  be  able  to  encourage 
the  development  of  the  highest  capacities  of  her  children,  and  incite 
them  to  wisdom  and  virtue. 

Revered  as  a  friend,  honored  for  her  integrity,  admired  for  her  va- 
ried acquisitions,  respected  for  her  piety,  and  cherished  for  the  union 
of  all  these  attributes  of  a  pure  and  elevated  character,  Miss  Adams 
passed  to  her  final  rest,  receiving  kindly  sympathy  and  fostering  care. 
She  breathed  her  last  in  a  pleasant  house  in  Brookline,  whither  she 
had  been  removed,  that  she  might  enjoy  the  beauties  of  rural  scenery, 
which  she  had  ever  loved,  and  have  the  advantage  of  sun  and  pros- 
pect. She  had  fully  experienced,  in  her  long  life,  the  evanescent 
nature  of  all  earthly  enjoyments ;  and  she  "  fell  asleep,"  finally,  real- 
izing that  her  soul's  helper  was  the  Omnipotent,  and  her  best  defence, 
the  Rock  of  Ages. 

Her  friends  raised,  by  subscription,  the  monument  to  her  memory, 
which  bears  the  following  inscription : 


66  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

TO 

HANNAH    ADAMS, 
» 

HISTORIAN  OF  THE  JEWS, 

AND 

REVIEWER    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SECTS, 

€J)fs  Monument  is  erectrt, 

BT 

HER    FEMALE    FRIENDS. 


FIRST    TENANT 

or 
MT.  AUBURN: 

SHE  DIED  DECEMBER  15,   1831, 
AGED  76. 


HARVARD  HILL. 


"  His  eyes  diffused  a  venerable  grace, 
And  charity  itself  was  in  his  face : 
Nothing  reserved  or  sullen  was  to  see, 
But  sweet  regards  and  pleasing  sanctity ; 
Mild  was  his  accent,  and  his  action  free. 
With  eloquence  innate  his  tongue  was  arm'd  ; 
Though  harsh  the  precept,  yet  the  preacher  charm'd. 
For,  letting  down  the  golden  chain  from  high, 
He  drew  his  audience  upward  to  the  sky. 
He  bore  his  great  commission  hi  his  look, 
But  sweetly  temper'd  awe,  and  soften'd  all  he  spoke." 


AMIDST  our  meditative  wanderings  over  Mount  Auburn,  we  find 
that  the  same  "consecrated  mould"  contains  not  only  some  of  the 
greatest  of  our  country's  lawgivers,  but  some  of  the  most  eloquent  of 
her  divines, — men  whose  industry  and  genius  have  elevated  them  to 
conspicuous  public  stations.  We  have  pondered,  in  the  lowly  vale, 
over  the  tomb  of  STORY — and  now  we  pass  to  the  gentle  eminence 
upon  which  is  erected  the  monument  to  the  memory  of  KIRKLAND — 
the  urbane  gentleman — the  brilliant  scholar — the  gifted  preacher — the 
profound  moralist, — the  late  President  of  Harvard  College. 

The  spot  where  rest  the  remains  of  President  Kirkland,  has  been 
appropriately  designated  as  "  Harvard  Hill ;"  being  a  purchase  by  the 


68  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

corporation  of  the  University,  for  the  purpose  of  a  burying-place  for 
the  officers  of  the  institution,  and  some  of  its  distinguished  students. 
We  stand  upon  Harvard  Hill,  as  it  were,  in  the  midst  of  a  group  of 
academics,  and,  as  the  eye  rests  upon  the  marble  which  forms  the 
enduring  monument  to  Kirkland,  we  feel  that  there  rests  a  father 
amongst  his  children.  Around  and  about  it  are  obelisks  to  the  mem- 
ory of  various  instructors  and  students  in  the  college,  and  near  by,  is 
the  chaste  erection  in  memory  of  JOHN  HOOKER  ASHMUN,  late  Royall 
Professor  of  Law  in  the  University.  Here  are  buried,  side  by  side, 
hoary  age,  and  promising  youth,  and  manhood  in  its  full  maturity  of 
intellectual  strength, — he  whom  the  great  Father  of  our  destinies  per- 
mitted to  a  full  performance  of  a  good  work  on  earth,  and  they,  his 
student-children,  cut  off  amidst  their  brightest  aspirations — their  san- 
guine hopes  for  an  honorable  career.  But  "  such  is  life,"  and  such  are 
the  decrees  of  inscrutable  destiny ;  and  we  may  well  recognise,  in  this 
connection,  the  expressive  truth,  that  there  are  those,  "of  whom 
neither  ourselves  nor  the  world  are  worthy." 

The  Kirkland  monument  on  Harvard  Hill,  is  an  ornate  sarcoph- 
agus, having  on  its  top  an  outspread  scroll,  upon  which  rests  a  book — 
the  latter  being  a  fitting  indication  of  the  pursuits  of  the  lamented 
dead  interred  beneath  it,  whether  as  respects  his  profession  of  the 
ministry,  or  his  taste  for  literature. 

On  one  side  of  the  monument  are  these  words : 

JOANNES   THORNTON  KIRKLAND, 

V.  D.  M.,      8.  T.  D. 

DECESSIT  APRILIS  DIE  XXVI., 
ANNO  DOMINI  MDCCCXL. 

.BTATIS   SU.E    T.XTT. 


HARVARD  HILL.  69 

On  the  opposite  side  is  this  inscription : 

JOANNI   THORNTON   KIRKLAND : 

VIRO  HONORATO  DILECTO, 

AUCTORITATE,    SUAVITATEJ 

1NGENII  ACUMINE,  SERMONIS  VENUSTATE,  ET  ANIMI  QUADAM  ALTITUD1NE, 

PR.ESTANTI. 

ACADEMIC    HARVARDIAN^E 

PER    ANNOS    XVII    FACSTOS    PR^SIDI: 

AQUO    VIG1LANTI,    BENIGKO,    PIO. 

ALUMNI  GRATE  MEMORES, 
HOC    MONUMENTUM    PONENDUM,   CURAVERUNT. 

"Early  engaged  in  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  seminary  of 
which  he  was  afterwards  the  honored  head ;  sustaining  a  faithful  and 
successful  ministry  of  almost  seventeen  years,  in  the  New  South 
Church ;  and  thence  presiding,  for  a  still  longer  period,  over  the  Uni- 
versity, we  must  count  it,"  says  one  of  his  eulogists,*  "  amongst  the 
subjects  of  our  gratitude,  that  his  usefulness  was  preserved  to  us  so 
long.  Nearly  forty  years  of  public  service,  must  be  regarded  as  no 
ordinary  allotment  of  favor  to  the  individual  intrusted  with  them,  or 
to  the  community  who  share  in  the  benefit." 

JOHN  THORNTON  KIRKLAND  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York,  at 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Parkman. 


70  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

Little  Falls,  on  the  Mohawk  river,  on  the  17th  of  August,  1770.  He 
was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland,  who  devoted  himself,  with 
great  energy  and  courage,  to  the  work  of  a  missionary  to  the  Indians. 
His  mother  was  an  exemplary  woman  of  good  gifts  intellectually,  and 
one  who  thought  it  no  hardship  to  repair,  with  her  devoted  husband, 
immediately  upon  her  union,  to  an  unfinished  log-hut  in  the  heart  of 
an  Indian  village.  She  knew  the  perils  to  which  they  were  liable ; 
but  she  encouraged  a  great  hope  for  the  success  of  her  husband's 
labors, — and  she  was  partly  rewarded  for  her  wife-like  courage  by 
receiving,  in  November,  1772,  a  considerate  donation  of  fifty  pounds 
sterling,  from  the  society  in  Scotland  for  promoting  Christian  knowl- 
edge, to  purchase  a  comfortable  residence. 

"  It  is  a  singular  and  interesting  fact,"  says  Dr.  Young,  in  his  sermon 
on  the  death  of  Dr.  Kirkland,  "  as  well  as  a  beautiful  illustration  of 
the  spirit  of  American  society,  and  of  the  practical  working  of  our 
free  institutions,  that  the  son  of  a  poor  missionary  on  the  outskirts  of 
civilization,  born  in  a  log-cabin,  nurtured  in  infancy  among  the  sav- 
ages, and  bred  in  childhood  in  a  frontier  village,  with  no  advantages 
of  fortune,  and  little  aid  from  friends,  rose,  by  the  force  of  talent  and 
merit  alone,  to  the  head  of  the  first  literary  institution  in  our  land. 
Such  a  fact  as  this  is  full  of  encouragement  to  the  high-spirited  and 
ambitious  young  men  of  our  country.  It -shows  them  that  the  path  of 
literary  as  well  as  political  distinction  is  open  to  all,  and  that  talent, 
effort,  and  moral  worth  are  sure  to  be  valued  and  rewarded." 

When  the  troubles  of  the  war  arose,  it  was  not  deemed  safe  for 
Mrs.  Kirkland  to  remain  amongst  the  Indians,  especially  as  it  was  not 
known  which  side  they  would  take  in  the  conflict  The  money  from 
Scotland  purchased,  therefore,  a  small  farm  in  Stockbridge,  Mass., 


HARVARD   HILL.  71 

whither  this  excellent  wife  and  mother  repaired,  and  where  her  son 
John  Thornton  remained  till  he  was  sent  to  Andover,  having  pre- 
viously received  from  her  the  rudiments  of  his  education.  He  re- 
mained here  two  years,  when,  with  the  patronage  of  a  liberal  friend, 
aided  by  his  own  exertions  in  keeping  a  school,  he  was  admitted  into 
Harvard  University  in  1786.  « 

In  his  Junior  year,  the  famous  Shay's  Rebellion  broke  out;  and, 
possessing  a  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  perhaps  some  love  of  adventure, 
he  availed  himself  of  a  winter  vacation  to  join  the  little  band  under 
Gen.  Lincoln,  formed  for  the  purpose  of  quelling  the  insurrection. 
He  performed  his  part  as  a  soldier  manfully ;  and  when  the  object  of 
the  struggle  was  honorably  accomplished,  he  once  more  returned  to 
the  peaceful  groves  of  Academus,  and  to  the  renewal  of  those  studies 
which  his  principles  of  true  patriotism  had  interrupted. 

Upon  leaving  the  University,  he  became,  for  a  brief  period,  an  as- 
sistant in  the  Andover  Academy.  He  was  elected,  subsequently,  Tutor 
of  Metaphysics  in  Harvard  College ;  and  whilst  engaged  in  this  capa- 
city, he  embraced  Divinity  as  his  chosen  profession,  and  zealously 
pursued  his  theological  studies,  until  he  was  invited  to  become  the 
pastor  of  the  New  South  Church,  upon  the  resignation  of  the  Rev. 
Oliver  Everett.  On  the  5th  of  February,  1794,  he  received  ordina- 
tion, and  commenced  a  ministry  which  beautifully  exemplified  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  Christian  divinity, — a  ministry 
which  all  who  remember  it,  acknowledge  as  having  exercised  an  im- 
portant influence  upon  the  minds  not  only  of  his  own  people,  but  upon 
those  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community.  "From  1794  to  1810 — 
a  pregnant  period  in  our  history — he  exercised,"  says  Dr.  Young,  "  a 
moral  control  which  can  hardly  be  conceived  of  by  those  who  did  not 


70  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

live  at  that  period,  and  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  feverish  and 
agitated  state  of  the  public  mind  that  then  existed,  growing  out  of  the 
peculiar  state  of  the  times.  The  minds  of  men  needed  to  be  instructed 
and  tranquillized,  and  to  be  confirmed  in  the  great  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  morals.  Dr.  Kirkland  addressed  himself  to  this 
work  with  singular  discretion  and  judgment,  and  by  his  words  of 
truth  and  soberness,  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  rendered  a  service  to 
this  community,  which  can  now  be  hardly  understood  or  estimated, 
but  which  ought  never  to  be  forgotten." 

In  efhics,  Dr.  Kirkland  particularly  excelled ;  he  had  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  which  well  prepared  him  for  the  work 
of  a  rigid  moralist ;  he  made  no  parade  of  this  intuitive  knowledge  of 
humanity — but  it  appeared  continually  in  his  life  and  in  his  writings ; 
he  would  enforce  a  great  truth  with  a  power  of  rhetoric  at  once  con- 
vincing and  brilliant,  and  he  would  deal  with  facts  with  a  logic  so 
consummate,  as  absolutely  to  conceal  the  logician  in  the  speaker  of 
well-pointed  truths.  Spontaneity  was  a  great  element  in  his  thinking 
and  speaking.  He  seemed  ever  to  express  himself  impromptu.  "  His 
conversation,"  says  a  reverend  brother,  "  was  a  succession  of  aphor- 
isms, maxims,  general  remarks :  his  preaching  was  of  the  same  char- 
acter with  his  conversation."  It  is  related  of  Dr.  Kirkland,  that  it 
was  not  uncommon  with  him  to  take  into  the  pulpit- half  a  dozen  ser- 
mons or  more,  and  whilst  turning  rapidly  over  their  pages,  to  construct 
from  the  whole  a  new  sermon  as  he  went  along, — doing  this  extempo- 
raneously, but  with  an  impressive  power,  possessed  by  few  if  any  in 
the  same  profession.  Some  persons  have  attributed  this  habit  to  indo- 
lence, and  to  procrastination  in  preparing  a  regular  sermon  on  the 
week  days.  None  found  fault,  however,  with  the  instruction  rendered 


HARVARD   HILL.  73 

in  this  remarkable  manner ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  been  said  of  him, 
that  he  "  put  more  thought  into  one  sermon,  than  other  clergymen  did 
into  five." 

Urbanity  was  a  prominent  characteristic  of  the  deportment  of  Dr. 
Kirkland,  and  to  this  may  chiefly  be  attributed  the  power  which  he 
had  of  gaining  the  love  of  all  who  knew  him ;  his  kindness  of  heart 
was  as  an  inner  sun,  which  irradiated  a  countenance  expressive  of  all 
benignant  emotions :  he  looked  to  be  what  he  was  emphatically — a 
good  man  and  a  Christian.  "  Both  as  a  preacher  and  pastor,"  says 
Dr.  Young,  "  by  his  whole  spirit  and  bearing,  he  made  religion  lovely 
and  attractive,  particularly  to  the  intelligent,  the  refined,  and  the 
young.  He  stripped  it  of  its  stiff  and  formal  costume,  its  gloomy  and 
forbidding  look,  and  its  austere  and  repellent  manners.  He  taught 
men  by  his  conversation  and  deportment,  quite  as  much  as  by  his 
preaching — confirming  and  illustrating  the  beautiful  remark  of  Hooker, 
that  '  the  life  of  a  pious  clergyman  is  visible  rhetoric.' " 

Dr.  Kirkland  was  chosen  President  of  Harvard  College  on  the 
death  of  its  esteemed  head,  Dr.  Webber.  He  was  elected  by  the  cor- 
poration of  the  University,  in  August,  1810 ;  the  election  was  con- 
firmed by  the  board  of  ovoyrseers  during  the  same  month, — but, 
owing  to  his  own  modest  distrust  of  his  capacity  for  such  a 
position,  his  answer  of  acceptance  was  delayed  until  the  following 
October.  He  was  inducted  into  office  on  the  14th  of  the  ensuing 
November. 

"  The  presidency  of  Dr.  Kirkland,"  says  one  of  his  most  careful 
eulogists,  "was  the  Augustan  age  of  Harvard  College."  This  certainly 
is  high  encomium ;  but  to  prove  its  justice,  we  may  be  permitted  to 
quote  the  remarks  of  his  immediate  successor  in  office,  the  venerable 


10 


74  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

ex-president  Josiah  Quincy,  who,  in  his  copious  "History  of  Harvard 
University,"  says  that  "the  early  period  of  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Kirkland  was  pre-eminently  distinguished  for  bold,  original,  and 
successful  endeavors  to  elevate  the  standard  of  education  in  the  Uni- 
versity, and  to  extend  the  means  of  instruction,  and  multiply  accom- 
modations in  every  department  Holworthy  Hall,  University  Hall, 
Divinity  Hall,  and  the  Medical  College,  in  Boston,  were  erected. 
Liberal  expenditures  were  incurred  for  furnishing  University  Hall,  and 
for  repairs  and  alterations  in  the  other  departments.  The  library,  the 
chemical,  philosophical,  and  anatomical  apparatus  of  the  University, 
and  the  iniiieralogical  cabinet,  were  enlarged,  and  rooms  for  the  lec- 
tures of  the  medical  professors  were  fitted  up  in  Holden  Chapel.  The 
grounds  surrounding  the  college  edifices,  were  planted  with  ornamen- 
tal trees  and  shrubberies ;  the  salaries  of  the  president  and  professors 
were  satisfactorily  raised ;  and  as  professorships  became  vacant,  they 
were  filled  with  young  men  of  talent  and  promise.  *  *  *  The 
external  indications  of  prosperity  and  success  were  general,  manifest, 
and  applauded. 

"  The  extraordinary  enlargement  of  the  means,  and  advancement  of 
the  interests  of  learning  in  the  University  during  this  period,  are  to  be 
attributed  to  the  fortunate  influx  of  the  liberal  patronage  of  individuals 
and  the  legislature ;  to  the  spirit  of  an  age  of  improvement ;  but  most 
of  all,  to  the  eminent  men  who  then  composed  the  corporation,  and 
brought  into  it  a  weight  of  talent,  personal  character,  and  external 
influence,  combined  with  an  active  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  the 
institution,  previously  unparalleled — and  who,  placing  an  almost  unlim- 
ited confidence  in  its  president,  vested  him  with  unprecedented  powers 
in  the  management  of  its  affairs,  which  he  exercised  in  a  manner 


HARVARD   HILL.  75 

liberal  and  trustful  of  public  support.  This  confidence  was  not  only 
known  and  avowed,  but  is  distinctly  apparent  on  the  records  of  the 
college,  and  had,  unquestionably,  a  material  influence  on  the  measures 
and  results  of  that  administration." 

President  duincy  very  justly  alludes,  in  the  foregoing,  to  "  the  emi- 
nent men"  who  composed  the  corporation  of  the  college  at  the  time 
of  which  we  are  writing ;  and  it  may  be  well,  in  this  connection,  to 
refresh  the  mind  of  the  reader,  by  enumerating  the  names,  amongst 
the  laity,  of  the  Hon.  John  Davis,  Oliver  Wendell,  Theophilus  Par- 
sons, John  Lowell,  John  Phillips,  Christopher  Gore,  Wm.  Prescott, 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Charles  Jackson,  Joseph  Story,  Nathaniel  Bow- 
ditch,  and  Francis  C.  Gray, — amongst  the  clergy,  of  the  Rev.  John 
Eliot,  William  Ellery  Channing,  Samuel  C.  Thacher,  John  Lathrop, 
Charles  Lowell,  and  Eliphalet  Porter. 

Not  less  distinguished  was  the  college  at  this  time,  for  its  bright 
irray  of  professors  and  tutors, — amongst  whom  we  may  mention  the 
names  of  Frisbie,  Farrar,  Norton,  Hedge,  Everett,  Ticknor,  Popkin, 
Bigelow,  Sparks,  Bancroft,  Cogswell,  and  Follen.  Two  of  these  indi- 
viduals have  received  the  honor  of  being  sent  ambassador  to  the  court 
of  St.  James ;  and  one  of  the  two  is  now  the  third  successor  to  Dr. 
Kirkland  in  the  presidency  of  Harvard  University. 

In  writing  of  the  public  career  of  President  Kirkland,  and  of  his 
many  estimable  traits  of  character,  as  a  man  and  a  Christian,  the  gen- 
erosity of  his  disposition  should  not  be  passed  over.  He  was  the 
friend  of  temperance  and  moral  reform — a  man  of  an  expansive  be- 
nevolence of  thought,  and  of  a  generous  charity.  "Many  a  young 
man,"  says  Dr.  Young,  "was  prevented  from  leaving  college  with  his 
education  unfinished,  by  the  timely  and  generous  charity  which  he 


76  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

imparted.     Whilst  Dr.  Kirkland  had  a  dollar  in  his  pocket,  it  was 
ever  at  the  command  of  the  poor  Cambridge  scholar/' 

Dr.  Kirkland  retained  his  position  at  the  head  of  the  college  for  a 
period  of  eighteen  years,  when,  owing  to  his  declining  health,  he  sent 
in  his  resignation  of  the  high  duties  of  the  presidency,  on  the  28th  of 
March,  1828.  With  evident  regret  the  corporation  accepted  his  resig- 
nation; and  the  students  manifested  their  affectionate  and  respectful 
feelings  towards  him,  by  a  costly  present  of  silver  plate.  He  em- 
barked for  Europe  in  1829,  and  was  three  years  absent,  travelling 
over  that  continent,  and  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  He  returned  home 
in  1832 ;  but  his  strength  was  broken  by  paralysis,  and  he  passed 
away  from  earth  in  the  spring  of  1840 — having  ever  been  one  to 
whom  might  well  be  applied  the  words  of  the  prophet  Daniel :  "  light, 
and  understanding,  and  wisdom,  and  knowledge,  and  an  excellent 
spirit,  were  found  in  him." 


THE  APPLETON   MONUMENT. 


"  A  lovely  temple  !  such  as  shone 

Upon  thy  classic  mounts,  fair  Greece  ! 
For  which  thy  kings  exchanged  their  throne, 
War's  stirring  field,  for  the  grave's  peace." 

[McLiELLAH. 


A  GRECIAN  TEMPLE  in  miniature  of  fine  Italian  marble,  most  cor- 
rectly represented  in  the  engraving,  marks  the  burial-place  belonging 
to  SAMUEL  APPLETON,  Esq.,  of  Boston.  It  is  surmounted  by  funereal 
lamps,  and  has  appropriate  devices  on  its  fa£ade — the  whole  exquisite- 
ly wrought  by  the  Italian  artists.  This  monument  is  in  Woodbine 
Path,  and  has  been  erected  by  a  gentleman  conspicuous  for  his  wealth, 
hospitality,  and  benevolence.  Mr.  Samuel  Appleton  is  the  oldest  of 
a  family  in  Boston,  whose  position,  influence,  and  liberality  have  ren- 
dered them  eminently  distinguished  in  Massachusetts. 

The  monument  which  he  has  erected  is  one  of  the  most  costly  in 
Mount  Auburn,  and  is  usually  inquired  for  by  strangers  visiting  the 
place.  Its  situation  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  grove  of  evergreens,  is 
highly  picturesque. 


THE    MONUMENT 


TO 


JOHN   HOOKER  ASHMUN. 


"  And  there  are  some  names  even  in  Sardis,  which  have  not  defiled  their  garments.     And 
they  shall  walk  with  me  in  white,  for  they  are  worthy." 

[New  Testament. 


WE  have  already  mentioned  the  name  of  a  distinguished  scholar — 
one  of  the  professors  formerly,  connected  with  the  University — whose 
remains  repose  near  the  sculptured  sarcophagus  of  President  Kirkland. 
How  well  the  name  of  JOHN  HOOKER  ASHMUN  has  been  honored — 
how  truly  his  scholarship  and  character  of  mind  have  been  appreciated 
and  valued,  will  appear  from  the  remarkable  inscription  on  his  monu- 
ment— a  model  as  it  is  of  condensation, — containing  almost  a  biogra- 
phy in  an  epitaph.  Charles  Chauncy  Emerson  is  the  author  of  the 
following  inscription,  pronounced,  by  common  consent,  one  of  the 
best  in  Mount  Auburn : — 


HARVARD  HILL.  79 


Ifes  tjje  UcrtJii  of 
JOHN   HOOKER   ASHMUN, 

ROYALL  PROFESSOR  OF  LAW  IN  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY: 

WHO  WAS  BORN  JULY  3,  1800, 
AND  DIED  APRIL  1,  1833. 


In  him  the  Science  of  Law  appeared  native  and  intuitive : 

He  went  behind  Precedents  to  Principles  ;  and  Books  were  his  helpers,  never  his  masters : 

There  was  the  beauty  of  Accuracy  in  his  Understanding, 

And  the  beauty  of  Uprightness  in  his  Character. 

Through  the  slow  progress  of  the  Disease  which  consumed  his  Life, 
He  kept  unimpaired  his  Kindness  of  Temper,  and  Superiority  of  Intellect; 

He  did  more,  sick,  than  others,  in  health ; 

He  was  fit  to  Teach,  at  an  age  when  common  men  are  beginning  to  Learn ; 
And  his  few  years  bore  the  fruit  of  long  life. 

A  lover  of  Truth,  an  obeyer  of  Duty,  a  sincere  Friend,  and  a  wise  Instructor, 

HIS    PUPILS 
RAISE    THIS   STONE    TO    HIS   MEMORY. 

The  father  of  Professor  Ashmun — Eli  P.  Ashmun,  Esq.,  of  North- 
ampton— was  a  man  of  distinguished  talents  as  a  lawyer  and  states- 
man, and  the  intellectual  gifts  of  his  children  appear  to  have  been 
their  natural  heritage.  John  Hooker  Ashmun  was  not  thirty  years  of 
age  when  he  received  the  appointment  to  the  Royall  Professorship,  as 
the  successor  of  Chief  Justice  Parker ;  and  though  he  was  young  in 


80  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

years,  the  nomination  was  universally  liailvd  with  applause;  no  en- 
vious \oiiv  arose  to  dispute  his  claims  to  such  distinction;  the  M'IM- 
rejoiced  in  the  appointment,  and  the  students  exulted  in  the  choice  of 
so  competent  an  instructor.  President  Uu'mry,  in  his  "History  of 
Harvard  College,"  thus  alludes  to  this  appointment: — "Never  were 
honors  more  worthily  bestowed,  or  the  duties  of  a  professor's  chair 
more  faithfulh  fulfilled.  His  learning  was  deep,  various,  and  accurate, 
and  his  method  of  instruction  searching  and  exact.  Few  men  have 
impressed  upon  the  memories  of  their  friends,  a  livelier  sense  of  ex- 
cellence and  unsullied  virtue.  Fewer  have  left  behind  them  a  charac- 
ter so  significant  in  its  outlines,  and  so  well  fitted  to  sustain  an 
enduring  fame."  Professor  Ashmun  was  not  destined,  however,  to  live 
to  heighten  his  fame.  In  less  than  four  years  from  his  acceptance  of 
the  professorship,  his  career  as  a  dispenser  of  legal  instruction  was 
terminated  by  death.  He  quietly  met  his  euthanasia,  on  the  morning 
of  April  1st,  1833,  just  as  the  bright  glow  of  the  early  day  streamed 
into  his  chamber,  a  fitting  type  of  his  own  clear  intellect,  the  diffusive 
light  of  which,  like  that  of  the  risen  sun  illuminating  the  home  of 
genius,  had  enlightened  so  many  minds  in  the  noble  science  of  juris- 
prudence. 

In  a  discourse  pronounced  by  the  late  Judge  Story,  before  the  fel- 
lows and  faculty  of  Harvard  University,  on  the  death  of  Professor 
Ashmun,  April  5th,  1833,  it  is  gratifying  to  note  with  what  a  simple 
eloquence  the  gifted  speaker  pronounced  his  eulogy  upon  the  character 
of  the  departed.  "  Such  as  he  was,"  he  says,  "  we  can  bear  him  in 
our  hearts,  and  on  our  lips,  with  a  manly  praise.  We  can  hold  him 
up  as  a  fit  example  for  youthful  emulation  and  ambition ;  not  dazzling, 
but  elevated ;  not  stately,  but  solid ;  not  ostentatious,  but  pure."  Al- 


HARVARD   HILL.  81 

luding  to  Mr.  Ashman's  nomination  to  the  Royall  Professorship,  Judge 
Story  says : — "  It  was  a  spontaneous  movement  of  the  corporation 
itself,  acting  on  its  own  responsibility,  upon  a  deliberate  review  of  his 
qualifications,  and  after  the  most  searching  inquiry  into  the  solidity  of 
his  reputation."  This  tribute  to  his  talents  and  ability  is  of  the  high- 
est kind ;  and  it  remains  but  to  add,  that  he  had  early  gained  his  fame 
in  the  practice  of  legal  science,  by  his  brilliant  success  at  the  bar 
whilst  a  resident  of  Northampton,  and  by  his  association  with  Judge 
Howe  in  a  law  school  in  that  flourishing  town. 

We  cannot  conclude  this  notice  of  one  of  the  distinguished  dead 
whose  remains  are  interred  beneath  the  shady  eminence  of  Harvard 
Hill — that  spot  of  thronging  interests — without  recalling,  as  a  model 
for  the  youth  of  our  community,  the  example  of  the  student-life  of  the 
lamented  Ashmuu.  Without  any  of  the  extrinsic  graces  of  person  or 
of  oratory ;  without  strength  of  voice ;  and  without  the  health  which 
gives  so  much  success  to  professional  labor,  he  possessed  an  earnest- 
ness and  truth  of  manner,  which  made  his  hearers  always  regard  him 
with  the  most  profound  attention.  Again  to  quote  the  words  of  his 
distinguished  eulogist,  now,  alas  !  called  to  meet  his  friend  and  young 
companion  in  a  better  world,  "  he  convinced  where  others  sought  but 
to  persuade ;  he  bore  along  the  court  and  the  jury  by  the  force  of  his 
argument ;  he  grappled  with  their  minds,  and  bound  them  down  with 
those  strong  ligaments  of 'the  law,  which  may  not  be  broken,  and 
cannot  be  loosened.  In  short,  he  often  obtained  a  triumph,  where 
mere  eloquence  must  have  failed.  His  conscientious  earnestness  com- 
manded confidence,  and  his  powerful  expostulations  secured  the  passes 
to  victory.  Certain  it  is,  that  no  man  of  his  years  was  ever  listened 
to  with  more  undivided  attention  by  the  court  and  bar,  or  received 


82  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

from  them  more  unsolicited  approbation.  If,  to  the  circumstances  al- 
ready alluded  to,  we  add  the  fact  of  his  deafness,  his  professional  suc- 
cess seems  truly  remarkable.  It  is  as  proud  an  example  of  genius 
subduing  to  its  own  purposes,  every  obstacle  opposed  to  its  career,  and 
working  out  its  own  lofty  destiny,  as  could  well  be  presented  to  the 
notice  of  ingenuous  youth.  It  is  as  fine  a  demonstration  as  we  could 
desire,  of  that  great  moral  truth,  that  man  is  far  less  what  nature 
has  originally  made  him,  tlian  what  he  chooses  to  make  himself" 

With  this  review  of  Professor  Ashmun's  brief  career  on  earth,  we 
think  we  have  fully  illustrated  the  truth  of  the  remarkable  epitaph  on 
his  monument — an  elegant  tribute,  as  the  latter  is,  from  one  gifted 
mind,  to  the  superior  intelligence  and  manly  character  of  another. 


THE    DEAD 


HARVARD  HILL 


"  Life  hath  its  flowers, — and  what  are  they  7 

The  buds  of  early  love  and  truth, 
Which  spring  and  wither  in  a  day ; 

The  gems  of  warm,  confiding  youth ; 
Alas  !  those  buds  decay  and  die, 

Ere  ripen'd  and  matured  in  bloom ; 
E'en  in  an  hour  behold  them  lie 
Upon  the  still  and  lonely  tomb." 

[BROOKS. 

"  Yes,  here  they  lie  ;  the  student-youth, — 

The  early  honor'd  dead ; 
Gone  now  with  trust  and  holy  truth, 
To  meet  in  Christ,  their  Head." 


CLUSTERING  around  the  graves  of  Kirkland  and  Ashmun,  to  the 
right  and  left  of  Harvard  Hill,  are  monuments  to  many  of  the  students 
in  the  University,  and  to  some  of  their  instructors  and  tutors.  With 
each  name  there  is  a  linked  history  of  high  hopes  and  natural  aspira- 
tions— but  they  lived,  died,  and  have  been  lamented.  This  is  the  lot 
of  all  with  whom  virtue  and  uprightness  are  the  guides  of  earthly 
action,  and  "the  proudest  can  boast  of  little  more."  They  have  a 
name  and  a  tomb  amongst  those  whom  they  would  have  been  glad  to 


84  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

emulate,  and  they  have  passed  away  in  the  very  summer  of  their 
beauty,  teaching  us,  by  the  "seemingly  untoward  circumstances  of 
their  departure  from  this  life,  that  they  and  we  shall  live  forever." 

Amongst  the  names  recorded  on  these  various  monuments,  we  find 
those  of  Charles  S.  Wheeler  and  Samuel  T.  Hildreth,  both  instruc- 
tors in  the  Univer>it\  ;  of  Wm.  H.  Cowan,  of  the  Law  School;  of 
Frederic  A.  Hoffman,  of  Baltimore;  of  John  A.  Terry,  Ephraim  C. 
Roby,  Charles  Ridgely  Greenwood,  Charles  Sedgwick,  of  Lenox, 
Wm.  Cranch  Bondj  'John  A.  Emery,  and  Edward  C.  Mussey.  Neat 
marble  obelisks  adorn  these  graves,  erected,  in  many  cases,  by  the 
classmates  of  the  deceased,  and  bearing  suitable  inscriptions.  Few 

• 

can  wander  around  the  spot  where  repose  these  young  "buds  of 
promise,"  so  quickly  blasted,  without  a  crowd  of  feelings,  suggested  by 
their  early  departure  from  a  world,  the  bitterness  of  which  they  had 
never  known,  and  any  conflict  .wit  li  which  they  had  never  been  called 
to  meet.  To  say  that  we  mourn  their  loss,  would  be  improper ;  for, 
in  the  expressive  words  of  an  English  poet, — 

"  'Mid  thorns  and  snares  our  way  we  take, 
And  yet  we  mourn  the  blest !" 

There  is  a  better  country,  "even  an  heavenly,"  and  there,  we  trust, 
the  beatified  spirits  of  the  loved  and  early  lost  are  commingling  with 
"the  just  made  perfect."  Therefore,  remembering  the  words  of  Sol- 
omon, that  we  "  may  praise  the  dead  more  than  the  living,"  we  may 
well  apply,  in  this  connection,  the  remaining  lines  of  the  stanza : 

"  For  those  who  throng  the  eternal  throne, 

Lost  are  the  tears  we  shed ; 
They  are  the  living,  they  alone, 
Whom  thus  we  call  THE  DEAD." 


THE  MONUMENT  TO  CHANNING. 


"  Some  there  are, 

By  their  good  works  exalted ;  lofty  minds 
And  meditative  ;  authors  of  delight 
And  happiness,  which  to  the  end  of  time 
Will  live,  and  spread,  and  kindle.     Even  such  minds 
In  childhood,  from  this  solitary  Being, 
Or  from  like  wanderer,  haply  have  received 
(A  thing  more  precious  far  than  all  that  books, 
Or  the  solicitudes  of  love  can  do !) 
That  first  mild  touch  of  sympathy  and  thought, 
In  which  they  found  their  kindred  with  a  world 
Where  want  and  sorrow  were." 

[WORDSWORTH. 


IN  Yarrow  Path,  Mount  Auburn,  stands  a  monument  of  fine  Italian 
marble.  It  is  wrought  from  a  design  of  the  greatest  of  American 
painters — Washington  Allston — and  is  erected  to  the  memory  of  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  American  divines — WILLIAM  ELLERY 
CHANNING. 

On  one  side  of  the  sarcophagus  is  this  inscription : — 


86  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

Atre  rest  t&e  licmadis  of 
WILLIAM    ELLERY    CHANNING, 

BORN  TTH  APRIL,  1780, 

AT  NEWPORT,  R.  I. 

ORDAINED    JUNE    IST,    1803, 

As  A  MINISTER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  TO  THE  SOCIETY  WORSHIPPING  GOD 

IN  FEDERAL-ST.,  BOSTON  : 

DIED     3D     OCTOBER,     1843, 

WHILE    ON   A   JOURNEY,    AT   BENNINOTON,    VERMONT. 

On  the  other  side  are  the  following  words : 

IN     MEMORY     OF 

WILLIAM   ELLERY  CHANNING, 

Honored  throughout  Christendom 
For  his  eloquence  and  courage,  in  maintaining  and  advancing 

The  great  cause  of 
TRUTH,  RELIGION,  AND  HUMAN  FREEDOM, 

Ofs   ittomtmcnl 

Is  gratefully  and  reverently  erected, 
By  the  Christian  Society  of  which,  during  nearly  forty  years, 

HE    WAS    PASTOR. 

The  above  inscription  truly  expresses  the  character  of  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  as  a  preacher  and  teacher  of  scripture  truths,  and  with  that  one 


CHANNING'S   MONUMENT.  87 

expression,  "  human  freedom"  proclaims  the  great  object  for  which  he 
lived  and  labored. 

Dr.  Channing's  ideal  of  a  Christian  minister  was  clear  and  lofty 
and  during  his  whole  life,  he  sought  faithfully  to  be  himself  what 
he  strove  to  delineate.  "Like  the  man  of  genius,"  he  stood  forth  as 
"  the  high  priest  of  Divinity  itself,  before  whom  it  befitted  him  to  offer 
up  not  only  the  first  fruits  of  his  intellect,  but  the  continued  savor  of 
a  life  high  and  pure,  and  in  accordance  with  the  love  he  taught." 
" He  needs  no  eulogy,  whose  life  was  full  of  truth"  says  his  friend  and 
colleague,  Dr.  Gannett,  whilst  attempting  to  render  a  simple  but  em- 
phatic tribute  to  his  memory.  Never  were  words  more  truly  spoken, 
for  Dr.  Channing  stood  forth  to  the  world  as  a  devoted  teacher  of  the 
beauty  of  holiness — the  promoter  of  man's  highest  interests — a  philan- 
thropist in  word  and  deed. 

A  native  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  Dr.  Channing  graduated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1798,  with  the  highest  honors  of  the  institution.  After 
a  year's  sojourn  at  the  south,  he  prepared  himself  for  the  ministry,  and 
became  so  early  distinguished  for  the  style  of  his  preaching,  that  he 
was  immediately  chosen  pastor  of  the  Federal-street  Meeting-house, 
and  ordained  over  a  small  society,  which  so  rapidly  increased  under 
his  pastoral  care,  that  a  new  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  1809. 
His  health,  which  was  always  delicate,  became  so  much  impaired  by 
his  extraordinary  mental  exertions,  that  a  voyage  to  England  was  un- 
dertaken by  him  in  1822 ;  and  upon  his  return  in  the  ensuing  year, 
an  assistant  minister  was  chosen,  to  aid  him  in  his  professional 
duties. 

"  From  that  time,"  says  Dr.  Gannett,  in  his  funeral  address,  "  he 
continued  to  officiate  in  the  pulpit,  with  more  or  less  frequency,  as  his 


88  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

strength  permitted,  till  1840,  when  he  requested  the  society  to  release 
him  from  all  obligation  of  professional  service,  though  he  desired  to 
retain  the  pastoral  connection  towards  them.  As  his  mind  was  re- 
lieved from  the  pressure  of  ministerial  engagements,  his  attention  was 
more  given  to  the  aspects  which  society,  in  its  opinions,  usages,  and 
institutions,  presents  to  the  Christian  philanthropist.  He  was  led,  by 
his  interest  in  these  subjects,  to  communicate  to  the  public,  at  different 
times,  his  thoughts  on  questions  of  immediate  urgency,  involving  high 
moral  considerations ;  and  he  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  time  to  an 
examination  of  the  light  which  Christianity  throws  upon  practical 
ethics." 

The  world,  however,  was  not  to  receive  any  long  continuance  of 
such  valuable  benefactions.  Illness  overpowered  his  vital  energies, 
and  he  sunk  to  sleep  in  the  October  of  1842,  just  two  months  after 
the  delivery  of  his  singularly  eloquent  address  in  the  cause  of  human 
freedom,  on  occasion  of  the  anniversary  of  emancipation  in  the 
British  West  Indies.  This  address  was  spoken  at  Lenox,  Mass. ;  and 
we  see  in  it  the  very  soul  of  Channing  breathing  out  a  fervor  of  love 
for  his  fellow-men,  in  a  surpassingly  eloquent  appeal  to  those  who 
stood  around  him — the  "freemen  of  the  mountains,"  as  he  impressive- 
ly called  them.  Like  the  dying  notes  of  the  swan,  which  are  said  to 
be  sweeter  and  sweeter  as  the  bird  passeth  away,  so  this  last  address 
of  the  departed  Channing,  seems  even  more  peculiar  in  its  eloquence, 
more  glowing  in  its  philanthropy,  more  energetic  in  its  tone,  than  the 
more  common  examples  of  his  writings. 

"  I  am  a  stranger  among  you,"  he  said  to  them,  "  but  when  I  look 
round,  I  feel  as  if  the  subject  of  this  address  peculiarly  befitted  this 
spot  Where  am  I  now  pleading  the  cause  and  speaking  the  praises 


CHANNING'S    MONUMENT.  89 

of  liberty  ?  Not  in  crowded  cities,  where,  amidst  men's  works,  and 
luxuries,  and  wild  speculations,  and  eager  competitions  for  gain,  the 
spirit  of  liberty  often  languishes ;  but  amidst  towering  mountains,  em- 
bosoming peaceful  vales ;  amidst  these  vast  works  of  God,  the  soul 
naturally  goes  forth,  and  cannot  endure  a  chain.  Your  free  air,  which 
we  came  here  to  inhale  for  health,  breathes  into  us  something  better 
than  health,  even  a  freer  spirit.  Mountains  have  always  been  famed 
for  nourishing  brave  souls  and  the  love  of  liberty.  Men  of  Berk- 
shire !  whose  nerves  and  souls  the  mountain  air  has  braced,  you  surely 
will  respond  to  him  who  speaks  of  the  blessings  of  freedom,  and  the 
misery  of  bondage.  I  feel  as  if  the  feeble  voice  which  now  ad- 
dresses you,  must  find  an  echo  amidst  these  forest-crowned  heights. 
Do  they  not  impart  something  of  their  own  loftiness  to  men's  souls  ? 
Should  our  commonwealth  ever  be  invaded  by  victorious  armies,  free- 
dom's last  asylum  would  be  here.  Here  may  a  free  spirit — may  rever- 
ence for  all  human  rights — may  sympathy  for  the  oppressed — may  a 
stern,  solemn  purpose  to  give  no  sanction  to  oppression,  take  stronger 
and  stronger  possession  of  men's  minds,  and  from  these  mountains, 
may  generous  impulses  spread  far  and  wide." 

The  exertion  which  this  good  man  found  it  necessary  to  make,  in 
the  delivery  of  an  address  which,  in  a  closely  printed  form,  covers 
thirty-eight  pages,  was  a  great  drain  upon  his  diminishing  vital  activity. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  produced  a  reaction  of  weakness, 
and  a  consequent  access  of  disease. 

"  He  observed  the  progress  of  his  sickness,"  says  Dr.  Gannett,  "  with 
the  calmness  that  was  habitual  with  him  in  every  situation ;  expressed 
a  sense  of  the  Divine  love  even  beyond  what  he  had  before  felt ;  man- 
ifested that  exquisite  tenderness  of  affection,  which  gave  such  beauty 


12 


90  MOUNT   AUBURN    ILLUSTRATED. 

to  his  private  life ;  spoke  earnestly  of  the  truth  and  worth  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  its  certain  prevalence  over  the  errors  and  sins  of  the 
world ;  and  thus  meeting  death,  not  as  one  who  is  taken  by  surprise, 
nor  as  one  unprepared  for  tin-  change  it  makes  in  human  condition, 
but  as  one  in  whom  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  has  built  up  a  con- 
sciousness of  immortal  life,  that  cannot  be  shaken  by  the  decay  of  the 
body.  He  sank  away  from  his  connection  with  the  earth,  as  the  sun, 
towards  which  he  turned  his  closing  eyes,  was  disappearing  behind 
the  light  which  it  shed  upon  the  surrounding  sky,  on  the  evening  of 
that  day  which  is  dearest  to  the  Christian  heart. — the  day  sacred  to 
the  remembrance  of  Him  who  is  '  the  resurrection  and  the  life.' " 

Dr.  Channing's  favorite  topic  of  discourse — his  constant  theme  of 
thought,  was  spiritual  freedom ;  and  upon  this  subject  he  sought  to 
define  his  views  fully,  in  a  very  able  discourse,  delivered  on  occasion 
of  the  annual  election,  May  26th,  1830.  Let  us  quote  a  few  brief 
passages  from  this  forcibly  written  production : — 

*'  I  cannot  better"  (writes  Dr.  Channing)  "  give  my  views  of  spiritual 
freedom,  than  by  saying,  that  it  is  moral  energy,  or  force  of  holy  pur- 
pose, put  forth  against  the  senses,  the  passions,  the  world ;  and  thus 
liberating  the  intellect,  conscience,  and  will,  so  that  they  may  act  with 
strength,  and  unfold  themselves  forever.  The  essence  of  spiritual 
freedom  is  power."  *  *  *  *  "  That  mind  alone  is  free,  which, 
looking  to  God  as  the  inspirer  and  rewarder  of  virtue,  adopts  his  law 
written  on  the  heart  and  in  His  word,  as  its  supreme  rule ;  and  which, 
in  obedience  to  this,  governs  itself,  reveres  itself,  exerts  faithfully  its 
best  powers,  and  unfolds  itself  by  well-doing,  in  whatever  sphere  God's 
providence  assigns."  *  *  *  * 

"  I  call  that  mind  free,  which  sets  no  bounds  to  its  love — which  is 


CHANNING'S    MONUMENT.  91 

not  imprisoned  in  itself  or  in  a  sect — which  recognises  in  all  human 
beings,  the  image  of  God  and  the  rights  of  his  children — which  de- 
lights in  virtue,  and  sympathizes  with  suffering,  wherever  they  are 
seen — which  conquers  pride,  and  offers  itself  up  a  willing  victim  to 
the  cause  of  mankind."  *  *  *  * 

"  I  call  that  mind  free,  which  protects  itself  against  the  usurpations 
of  society,  and  does  not  cower  to  human  opinion — which  feels  itself 
accountable  to  a  higher  tribunal  than  man's — which  respects  a  higher 
law  than  fashion — which  respects  itself  too  much  to  be  the  slave  or 
tool  of  the  many  or  the  few."  *  *  *  * 

"  I  call  that  mind  free,  which,  conscious  of  its  affinity  with  God,  and 
confiding  in  his  promises  by  Jesus  Christ,  devotes  itself  faithfully  to 
the  unfolding  of  all  its  powers — which  passes  the  bounds  of  time  and 
death — which  hopes  to  advance  forever — and  which  finds  inexhausti- 
ble power,  both  for  action  and  suffering,  in  the  prospect  of  immor- 
tality." 

Dr.  Channing  regarded  these  views  as  the  essence  of  civil  and  re- 
ligious government;  they  guided  his  own  life — they  were  constantly 
developed  in  his  teachings — and  "  it  is  through  them,"  says  Dr.  Gan- 
nett, "  that  he  will  probably  hereafter  hold  his  place  among  the  great 
religious  teachers  of  his  age,  and  of  posterity." 

As  Dr.  Channing  was  the  friend  of  freedom,  so  he  was  also  the 
friend  of  peace ;  and,  had  he  lived  to  the  present  day,  the  declaration 
by  our  government  of  war  against  a  neighboring  state  on  our  south- 
western frontier,  wrould  have  been  to  him  a  cause  of  unmitigated 

o 

lamentation.  "  His  interest  in  the  subject  of  peace,  was  one  of  the 
fruits  of  his  faith  in  Christianity.  War  he  regarded  as  hostile  to  the 
spirit  of  our  religion  ;  and  the  false  associations  which  are  connected 


92  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

\vith  the  soldier's  life  and  person,  he  labored  to  dissipate.  None  spoke 
on  this  subject  more  plainly  or  earnestly,  and  few  \\itli  more  effect." 

The  public  writings  of  Dr.  Clianning  made  him  known  as  well  in 
Great  Britain  as  in  America ;  they  directed  themselves,  by  their  force 
and  vigor,  to  the  substantial  minds  of  our  mother-country,  and  if  they 
did  not  always  uproot  prejudices,  they  served  the  cause  of  humanity, 
and  eloquently  pleaded  in  its  behalf.  We  are  proud  to  feel  that  he 
was  a  countryman  of  ours,  even  whilst  we  admit  the  force  of  the  re- 
mark, that  great  men  are  a  common  property,  forming,  as  has  been 
said,  a  solar  system  in  the  world  of  mind,  and  shining  equally  for  the 
benighted  of  all  nations. 

An  esteemed  and  appreciating  critic,  now  numbered  with  the  dead, 
in  a  brief  article  written  during  the  lifetime  of  this  lamented  divine 
and  great  Christian  moralist,  expresses  himself  with  remarkable  en- 
ergy and  truth  as  follows : 

"  Dr.  Channing's  genius  and  literature  appertain  exclusively  to  no 
sect  or  party.  His  fame  belongs  to  his  country ;  his  talents  he  has 
given  to  the  world.  His  reputation  is  no  more  the  peculiar  possession 
of  the  liberal  Unitarian,  than  of  the  orthodox  Presbyterian ;  and  be- 
longs equally  to  the  Protestant  Episcopalian  and  the  Roman  Catholic. 
It  is  the  property  of  the  whole  country,  and  not  of  a  religious  sect  or 
a  political  party.  He  has  won  for  himself  a  glorious  and  honorable 
notoriety,  which  is  not  limited  to  the  precincts  of  a  parish,  nor  the 
confines  of  a  town.  His  genius  has  overleaped  the  boundaries  of 
states ;  it  permeates  the  Union ;  has  crossed  the  barrier  of  the  ocean, 
and  finds  companionship  in  the  mighty  minds  of  literary  Europe. 

"  He  has  given  strength  to  our  literature,  and  a  moral  grandeur  to 
our  political  institutions.  He  has  taught  us  that  freedom  does  not 


CHANNING'S   MONUMENT.  93 

consist  in  the  concessions  of  an  extorted  character,  nor  in  the  bold 
avowals  of  a  written  declaration  of  independence.  He  has  enforced, 
with  sturdy  eloquence,  the  necessity  of  emancipating  the  mind,  and 
urged  upon  us  the  conviction  of  our  individual  responsibility.  He  has 
compelled  us  to  feel  how  far  we  are  from  perfection,  and  taught  us 
what  we  must  do  to  attain  it.  With  regard  to  his  genius  and  scholar- 
ship, he  who,  blinded  by  sectarian  or  party  prejudices,  cannot  discover 
or  will  not  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  his  intellect,  is  neither  to 
be  lauded  for  his  tolerance,  nor  envied  for  the  clearness  of  his  percep- 
tions." 

In  the  death  of  a  man  of  such  a  mind,  and  such  elevated  ideas  of 
Christian  duty,  society  felt  that  it  would  be  no  easy  matter  to  supply 
the  void ;  and  the  pilgrim  to  Mount  Auburn,  at  this  day,  feels  many  a 
regret,  as  his  recollections  cluster  around  the  sepulchral  urn  of  the 
devout  and  benevolent  philanthropist. 


THE   TOMB    OF    STORY; 

FOREST    POND. 


All  around  us  there  breathes  a  solemn  calm,  as  if  we  were  in  the  bosom  of  a  wilderness, 
broken  only  by  the  breeze  as  it  murmurs  through  the  tops  of  the  forest,  or  by  the  notes  of  the 
warbler,  pouring  forth  his  matin  or  his  evening  song.  Nature  seems  to  point  it  out  with  sig- 
nificant energy,  as  the  favorite  retirement  for  the  dead." 

[Story's  Consecration  Address. 

"  His  voice  of  eloquence  the  first 
Upon  these  listening  woods  to  burst, 
When  consecrating  rite  and  prayer 
Arose  like  incense  on  the  air  ; 
Oft  will  the  future  pilgrim's  eye 
Seek  out  his  marble  to  descry." 

[McLELLAN. 


THE  holiness  of  nature  is  ever  a  lofty  contemplation ;  and  it  is  well 
amidst  the  quiet  wildwood  and  beneath  the  forest-shades,  to  be  re- 
minded sometimes  of  death  and  of  the  grave,  and  even  in  types,  em- 
blems, and  shadows,  to  be  made  to  think  seriously  of  the  frailty  of 
life,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  possibility  of  the  attainment  of  that  glorious 
oxistence,  for  which  this  world  is  but  a  state  of  preparation.  We  can 
stand  upon  the  wide  Necropolis  of  Mount  Auburn,  and  seem  to  look 
through  death's  open  portals  to  the  bright  mansions  of  "  tho 


STORY'S   MONUMENT.  95 

land" — to  "a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens;" 
and,  as  we  do  so,  we  may  build  up  in  memory  three  tabernacles:  in 
the  words  of  the  devout  Herbert,- — 


"  The  first  tabernacle  to  HOPE  we  do  build, 

And  look  for  the  sleepers  around  us  to  rise ; 
The  second  to  FAITH,  which  insures  it  fulfill'd ; 
And  the  third  to  the  LAMB  of  the  great  SACRIFICE, 
Who  bequeath'd  us  them  both  when  He  rose  from  the  skies." 


"  When  we  have  before1  us,"  says  a  truthful  writer,  "  the  monumen- 
tal tributes  raised  by  their  country  above  the  honored  dead — when  we 
see  the  reward  bestowed  on  worth,  talent,  and  virtue,  even  when  life 
is  over,  the  spectacle  is  well  fitted  to  excite  in  us  a  noble  emulation." 
Every  way,  therefore,  do  these  adornments  of  the  grave  appear  to  be 
commendable  as  well  as  useful ;  and  we  may  not  vainly  hope  to  earn  a 
fate  for  ourselves,  like  that  which  has  met  the  strivings  of  noble,  Chris- 
tian genius.  Rural  burial-places  are  depositories  worthy  an  advanced 
Christianity ;  and,  as  there  can  be  nothing  about  them  to  minister  to 
low  gratifications,  but  everything  to  exalt  and  purify  the  mind,  they  are 
undoubtedly  as  favorable  to  morals  as  to  the  indulgence  of  refined  taste. 

Mount  Auburn  contains  no  head  that  has  worn  the  monarch's  dia- 
dem, but  it  is  nevertheless  a  sepulchre  of  royal  dead.  A  succession 
of  intellectual  sovereigns  lie  buried  there, — men  to  whose  renown 
neither  granite  or  marble  can  add  applause, — men  whose  names  alone 
shall  be  their  monument.  "  The  whole  earth,"  said  Edward  Everett, 
"  is  the  monument  of  illustrious  men ;"  and  the  enduring  obelisk  or 
sarcophagus  thus  becomes  but  the  appropriate  "  guide  for  the  grateful 
student  and  the  respectful  stranger,  to  the  precincts  of  that  spot,  where 
all  that  is  mortal  rests  of  some  of  the  world's  benefactors."  Are  not 


96  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

the  names  of  Story,  Channing,  and  Bowditch,  more  illustrious  than 
those  of  many  of  the  throned  monarchs  of  the  old  world  ?  Not  the 
most  towering  obelisk  that  man's  hands  could  build,  would  do  honor  to 
the  name  of  STORY.  By  his  life  and  works,  the  great  jurist  built  his 
own  monument  whilst  living;  and  his  fame  will  endure  forever,  when 
"  cloud-capped  tower  and  gorgeous  palace"  shall  have  crumbled  to  the 
dust.  BOWDITCH'S  own  self-erected  monument  has  "reached  the 
stars ;"  and  the  name  of  CHANNING  will  be  as  enduring  as  the  love  of 
freedom — as  far-spreading  and  glorious  as  the  pure  light  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

In  a  retired  part  of  Mount  Auburn,  near  Forest  Pond,  is  the  last 
resting-place  of  JOSEPH  STORY,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  our  coun- 
try. It  is  marked  by  a  simple,  unpretending  pyramid,  which  tells  its 
own  melancholy  tale.  The  inscription  reminds  us  of  the  words  of 
the  poet, — 

"  Lord,  here  am  I,  and  those  whom  thoa  hast  given  me ! 
Help  me,  who  feel  thy  rod,  ne'er  to  complain 
Of  Him  who  hath  appointed  it !     O  lead 
Me,  and  these  little  ones  of  mine,  to  thee." 

The  record  to  which  we  here  allude,  gives  the  names  of  five  chil- 
dren of  Judge  Story,  who  "  fell  asleep"  in  youth ;  and  the  pious 
parent  inscribes  their  names  upon  the  monument,  with  the  simple  and 
scriptural  words,  "Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Last  of  all. 
the  grave  opened  for  the  illustrious  father ;  and  we  are  compelled,  by 
our  own  sense  of  the  beauty  of  his  character,  to  cast  our  minds  towards 
the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  and  to  see  the  reverend  man  before 
the  throne  of  Grace,  with  the  words  upon  his  lips,  "  Lord,  here  am  I, 
and  the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me." 


STORY'S   MONUMENT.  97 

How  feeble  seems  the  pen  to  do  justice  to  the  character  and  mind 
of  one  like  Joseph  Story  !  The  late  Miss  Landon,  writing  of  a  great 
English  author,  has  said :  "  I  almost  fear  to  praise  such  a  man ;  but 
comfort  myself  with  thinking,  that  though  few  can  raise  the  carved 
marble  over  a  great  man's  remains,  all  may  throw  a  flower  upon  hi,- 
grave"  Many  a  flower  has  been  thrown  upon  the  grave  of  Story ; 
and  the  heart  has  felt  a  sorrowing  consolation  in  paying  that  office  of 
affection  to  one  who,  in  his  performance  of  all  the  offices  of  life, 
both  public  and  private,  made  the  earth  seem  beautiful.  "  The  lips,  on 
which  the  bees  of  Hybla  might  have  rested,  have  ceased  to-  distil  the 
honeyed  sweets  of  kindness.  The  body,  warm  with  all  the  affections 
of  life — with  love  for  family  and  friends,  for  truth  and  virtue — has 
mouldered  to  dust.  But  let  us  listen  to  the  words  which,  though 

7  O 

dead,  he  utters  from  the  grave  :  '  Sorrow  not  as  those  without  hope.' 
The  righteous  judge,  the  wise  teacher,  the  faithful  friend,  the  loving 
father,  has  ascended  to  his  Judge,  his  Teacher,  his  Friend,  his  Father 
in  heaven." 

Judge  Story  was  born  September  18,  1779,  at  Marblehead,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. He  entered  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1801,  having  studied  law  with  Justice 
Sewall  of  Marblehead,  and  Justice  Putnam  of  Salem.  At  the  early 
age  of  thirty-two,  he  was  appointed  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States — an  office  which  he  occupied  with  honor 
till  his  death.  He  was  elected  to  the  Dane  professorship  of  law  in 
Harvard  College  in  1829.  He  filled  some  of  the  most  important  situa- 
tions in  the  gift  of  corporations  or  individuals ;  whilst  not  only  his 
own  state  and  country,  but  distant  lands,  acknowledged  the  supremacy 
of  his  intellectual  greatness. 

13 


98  MUU.NT    AIBIKX    ILLUSTRATED. 

If  the  remark  be  generally  correct,  that  "there  never  \\as  a 
uian  who  had  not  a  great  mother,"  it  certain/if  ma\  lie 
proved  in  the  case  of  Justice  Story.  His  mother  is  said  to  have  been 
a  lady  of  indomitable  energy  of  character,  and  of  active  mind ;  and 
from  her  the  gifted  son  received  many  noble  incentives  towards  high 
culture  and  philanthropic  purpose.  He  entered  political  life  at  a  time 
of  great  excitement ;  but  he  could  not  enjoy  the  strife  which  it  engen- 
dered and  sustained.  He  had  too  honest  and  faithful  a  character,  to 
relish  being  the  organ  of  a  party  either  at  home  or  in  Congress ;  he 
felt  that  engaging  in  politics  prevented  complete  success  at  the  bar ; 
and,  being  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he 
withdrew  at  once  from  the  political  arena ;  "  and,"  says  Prof.  Green- 
leaf,  "though  never  an  indifferent  spectator  of  his  country's  fortunes, 
he  ever  afterwards  participated  in  them,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a 
judge." 

As  a  writer  on  points  of  law,  Judge  Story  never  has  had,  perhaps 
never  will  have  his  parallel.  "  His  written  judgments  on  his  own  cir- 
cuit," says  Mr.  Sumner,  in  an  exceedingly  beautiful  tribute  to  his 
memory,  "together  with  his  various  commentaries,  occupy  twenty -seven 
volumes ;  while  his  judgments  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  form  an  important  part  of  no  less  than  thirty-four  volumes 
more."  He  was  a  master  logician  in  the  law ;  his  reasoning  was  as 
clear  as  the  day ;  and  his  treatises  copious,  without  prolixity.  As  a 
legal  writer,  he  was  as  much  the  wonder  of  England  as  the  admiration 
of  America ;  his  fame  spread  rapidly  over  the  sea ;  and,  that  we  find 
his  works  quoted  in  other  tongues  than  our  own,  is  one  of  the  proudest 
evidences  of  his  profound  and  comprehensive  mind. 

"In  the  high  court  of  parliament,"  said  Daniel  Webster  at  a  meet- 


STORY'S   MONUMENT.  99 

ing  of  the  bar,  called  upon  the  occasion  of  Judge  Story's  death ;  "  in 
every  court  in  Westminster  Hall;  in  every  distinguished  judicature  in 
Europe;  in  the  courts  of  Paris,  of  Berlin,  of  Stockholm,  and  of  St. 
Petersburg;  in  the  universities  of  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  his  au- 
thority was  received ;  and  all,  when  they  hear  of  his  death,  will  agree 
that  a  great  luminary  has  fallen." 

But  let  us  pass,  for  a  moment,  from  his  career  as  a  man  of  law  and 
letters,  to  his  social  life.  Here  he  was  indeed  the  diffusive  sun  of  a 
wide  circle ;  his  love  of  humanity  made  him  urbane  to  all ;  his  general 
knowledge  was  no  selfish  acquisition,  to  be  communicated  to  a  few,  or 
to  be  used  as  special  occasion  demanded.  To  all  he  was  equally  affa- 
ble, and  particularly  to  the  inquiring  mind.  His  manner  of  conversa- 
tion was  simple  and  easy — but  his  auditors  felt  that  when  he  spoke, 
his  mouth,  like  that  of  the  good  fairy,  indeed  "  dropped  pearls ;"  he 
possessed  a  peculiarly  catholic  spirit  of  peace  and  good-will  towards 
men.  "We  have  seen  and  known  him,"  said  Mr.  Webster  on  the  oc- 
casion before  referred  to,  "  in  private  life.  We  can  bear  witness  to  his 
strict  uprightness  and  purity  of  character ;  his  simplicity  and  unosten- 
tatious habits ;  the  ease  and  affability  of  his  intercourse ;  his  great 
vivacity  amid  the  severest  labors,  and  his  fidelity  to  his  friends ;  and 
we  can  testify,  also,  to  his  large  "and  systematic  charities,  not  dispensed 
in  a  public  manner,  but  gladdening  the  hearts  of  those  whom  he  as- 
sisted in  private,  and  distilling  like  the  dew  of  heaven." 

On  the  10th  of  September,  1845,  at  the  age  of  66,  died  Joseph 
Story — the  accomplished  scholar,  the  profound  jurist,  the  good  man' 
He  died  in  the  midst  of  honors,  and  in  the  full  exercise  of  intellectual 
activity.  He  met  the  lot  of  mortals  peacefully,  and  carried  to  the 
grave  no  ordinary  regrets.  Europe  mourned  his  loss,  whilst  America 


100  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

was  clad  in  sable ;  and  the  illustrious  jurist  made  but  another  among 
the  myriad  examples,  that 


"  Our  lives  bat  lasting  streams  must  be, 
That  into  one  ingulfing  sea 

A  n-  ili ii nn'il  to  full : 

O'er  king  and  kingdom,  crown  and  throne, 
The  sea  of  death,  whose  waves  roll  on, 

And  swallow  all." 


He  was  buried  in  Mount  Auburn — a  spot  of  earth  peculiarly  be- 
loved by  him.  and  at  the  consecration  of  which  as  a  rural  cemetery, 
he  delivered  a  touchingly  beautiful  and  scholar-like  address.  The 
trees  which  he  loved,  wave  their  umbrageous  branches  over  the  stone 
erected  to  the  memory  of  his  children,  by  the  side  of  whom  he  sleeps; 
and  the  light  of  morning  and  evening  gilds  it  with  a  coloring  of  gold. 
"  So  shines  the  eternal  Nature  on  the  wrecks  of  all  that  makes  life 
glorious ;"  and  there  is  not  a  sun  that  sets  not  everywhere  over  the 
graves  of  lamented  genius  ! 


CONSECRATION    DELL. 


"  Thou,  God,  art  here  :  Thou  fill'st 
The  solitude.     Thou  art  in  the  soft  winds 
That  run  along  the  summit  of  those  trees 
In  music :  Thou  art  in  the  cooler  breath 
That,  from  the  inmost  darkness  of  the  place, 
Comes,  scarcely  felt :  the  barky  trees,  the  ground, 
The  fresh,  moist  earth,  are  all  instinct  with  Thee. 
Here  is  continual  worship ;  nature  here, 
In  the  tranquillity  that  Thou  dost  love, 
Enjoys  thy  presence." 

[BRYANT. 


THE  significant  name  of  the  deep  valley,  which  is  above  given,  is 
derived  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  spot  chosen,  at  the  time  of  the 
appropriation  of  Mount  Auburn  as  a  burial-place,  for  the  performance 
of  the  service  of  consecration.  The  engraving  delineates  the  appear- 
ance of  the  dell  on  one  side — the  monument  in  the  foreground  deno- 
ting very  nearly  the  point  upon  which  the  orator  stood,  and  the 
acclivity  opposite,  being  the  position  occupied  by  the  crowd  of  persons 
who  repaired  thither  to  listen  to  the  consecrating  address.  The  seats 
were  arranged  on  the  hillside  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  amphitheatre ;  and  the  whole  scene  presented  upon 
the  occasion,  is  described  as  having  been  picturesque  and  beautiful  in 
the  highest  degree. 


102  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

Judge  Story,  whose  recent  death  has  been  so  widely  lamented, 
and  who  now  lies  interred  amidst  the  earth  of  his  favorite  place 
of  retirement,  addressed  the  large  concourse  who  had  assembled, 
in  a  strain  of  earnest  eloquence.  His  remarks  were  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  interesting  circumstances  of  the  occasion;  and  he 
spoke  with  an  intensity  of  feeling  which  seems  to  impart  itself, 
even  at  this  day,  to  the  reader  of  his  thoughtful  address.  After  re- 
marking upon  the  great  appropriateness  of  Mount  Auburn  as  a 
place  of  interment,  he  alluded  to  the  "voice  of  consolation"  which 
would  spring  up  in  the  midst  of  the  silence  of  that  region  of  death, 
snd  of  the  hallowed  feelings  with  which  mourners  would  revisit  the 
shades  where  the  loved  and  lost  repose.  "  Spring,"  he  said,  "  will  in- 
vite thither  the  footsteps  of  the  young  by  her  opening  foliage,  and 
autumn  detain  the  contemplative  by  its  latest  bloom.  The  votary  of 
science  will  here  learn  to  elevate  his  genius  by  the  holiest  studies. 
The  devout  will  here  offer  up  the  silent  tribute  of  pity,  or  the  prayer 
of  gratitude.  The  rivalries  of  the  world  will  here  drop  from  the 
heart ;  the  spirit  of  forgiveness  will  gather  new  impulses ;  the  restless- 
ness of  ambition  will  be  rebuked ;  vanity  will  let  fall  its  plumes ;  and 
pride,  as  it  sees  '  what  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we  pursue,' 
will  acknowledge  the  value  of  virtue  as  far,  immeasurably  far  beyond 
that  of  fame.  But  that  which  will  ever  be  present,  pervading  these 
shades,  like  the  noonday  sun,  and  shedding  cheerfulness  around,  is  the 
consciousness,  the  irrepressible  consciousness,  amidst  all  these  lessons 
of  human  mortality,  of  the  higher  truth,  that  we  are  beings  not  of 
time,  but  of  eternity — '  that  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality' — that  this  is  but  the  thresh- 
hold  and  starting-point  of  an  existence,  compared  with  whose  duration 


CONSECRATION   DELL.  103 

the  ocean  is  but  as  a  drop,  nay,  the  whole  creation  an  evanescem 
quantity." 

The  address  was  delivered  on  the  24th  of  September,  1831, — the 
other  services  of  the  occasion  being  performed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ware 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont.  One  of  the  journals  of  the  day  gives 
the  following  account  of  the  scene  which  was  presented  in  that  deep 
valley  of  Mount  Auburn,  crowded  with  its  assembly  of  two  thousand 
persons  : 

"  An  unclouded  sun  and  an  atmosphere  purified  by  the  showers  of 
the  preceding  night,  combined  to  make  the  day  one  of  the  most  de- 
lightful we  ever  experience  at  this  season  of  the  year.  It  is  unneces- 
sary for  us  to  say,  that  the  address  by  Judge  Story  was  pertinent  to 
the  occasion — for  if  the  name  of  the  orator  were  not  sufficient,  the 
perfect  silence  of  the  multitude,  enabling  him  to  be  heard  with  dis- 
tinctness at  the  most  distant  part  of  the  beautiful  amphitheatre  in 
which  the  services  were  performed,  will  be  sufficient  testimony  as  to 
its  worth  and  beauty.  Neither  is  it  in  our  power  to  furnish  any  ade- 
quate description  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  music  of  the  thousand 
voices  which  joined  in  the  hymn,  as  it  swelled  in  chastened  melody 
from  the  bottom  of  the  glen,  and,,  like  the  spirit  of  devotion,  found  an 
echo  in  every  heart,  and  pervaded  the  whole  scene. 

"  The  natural  features  of  Mount  Auburn  are  incomparable  for  the 
purpose  to  which  it  is  now  sacred.  There  is  not,  in  all  the  untrodden 
valleys  of  the  west,  a  more  secluded,  more  natural  or  appropriate  spot 
for  the  religious  exercises  of  the  living :  we  may  be  allowed  to  add 
our  doubts,  whether  the  most  opulent  neighborhood  of  Europe  fur- 
nishes a  spot  so  singularly  appropriate  for  a  '  garden  of  graves.' 

"  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  when  the  hand  of  taste  shall  have 


104  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

passed  over  the  luxuriance  of  nature,  we  may  challenge  the  rivalry  of 
the  world  to  produce  another  such  abiding-place  for  the  spirit  of 
beauty." 

The  concluding  words  of  the  above  are  fast  proving  themselves  in 
the  many  improvements  already  effected  by  the  "  hand  of  taste ;"  and 
Mount  Auburn  might  now  make  the  traveller  to  exclaim,  in  the  words 
of  Shakspeare, — 

"  If  the  ill  spirit  have  so  fair  a  home,  good  things  will  strive  to  dwell  with  it" 


THE   BOWDITCH   STATUE. 


"  Bright  guide  to  Commerce  !     Though,  alaa  !  no  more 
Thy  buoyant  footsteps  mark  earth's  uarrow  shore  ; 
Though  not  for  thee  heaven's  wheeling  orbs  return ; 
Though  not  for  thee  yon  glistening  pleiads  burn  : 
Though  from  this  spot  no  longer  looks  thine  eye, 
As  once  to  scan  the  countless  worlds  on  high  ; — 
In  every  age,  through  every  sea  and  clime, 
The  name  of  BOWDITCH  triumphs  over  time." 

[J.  T.  FIELDS. 

"  A  garland  for  the  noble  dead  ! 
A  chaplet  for  the  silver  head  ! 
The  star  that  tells  the  mariner 
Far  over  trackless  deeps  to  steer, 
Here  wanes !     Like  the  sea's  mournful  surge. 
The  breeze  o'er  BOWDITCH  sighs  its  dirge." 

[McLELLAN. 


ERECTED  upon  a  granite  foundation,  and  facing  the  main  entrance 
to  Mount  Auburn,  stands  the  imposing  bronze  statue  of  the  venerable 
Dr.  BOWDITCH,  than  whom  few  have  ever  existed,  more  deserving  of 
the  application  of  the  scripture  line — "Mark  the  perfect  man,  and  be- 
hold the  upright;  for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace."  Like  Enoch  of 
old,  he  "  walked  with  God"  in  humility  and  virtue  ;  he  felt  the  ra- 
diance of  a  path  enlightened  by  the  Deity,  and  it  led  him  successfully 
on  towards  the  realms  of  immortality.  This  remark  may  well  be 
made  of  one  of  whom  one  of  his  biographers  has  said,  that  at  the 

14 


106  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

age  of  twenty-one,  "he  exhibited  all  those  beautiful  and  harmonious 
elements,  which  he  ever  afterwards  retained.  That  deep  religious 
principle  which  sustained  and  cheered  him  in  the  last  hours  of  IILS 
life,  had  guided  his  boyhood,  and  was  the  familiar  and  inseparable 
companion  of  his  mature  years ;  and  already  were  displayed  those  va- 
rious social  and  personal  virtues,  which  were  to  render  him  a  moral 
exemplar  to  the  community  in  which  he  lived." 

"  I  have  known  Dr.  Bowditch,"  said  one  of  his  seafaring  compan- 
ions, "intimately  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  I  know  no  faults.  This 
may  seem  strange ;  for  most  of  your  great  men,  when  you  look  at 
them  closely,  have  something  to  bring  them  down, — but  he  had  noth- 
ing. I  suppose  all  Europe  would  not  have  tempted  him  to  swerve  a 
hair's  breadth  from  what  he  thought  right." 

•  These  tributes  to  moral  excellence  are  dearer  to  a  man's  children, 
and  more  worthy  of  estimation  by  the  world,  than  the  greatest  scho- 
lastic attainments ;  the  human  heart  should  lean  towards  goodness  and 
virtue,  rather  than  to  fame — for  "  time  may  efface  a  name  engraven  on 
marble ;  but  to  do  so,  it  must  corrode  the  material :  it  is  the  same  with 
the  heart ;  our  strong  impressions  may  be  erased ;  but  before  they  can 
be  so,  the  heart  itself  must  be  impaired." 

Dr.  Nathaniel  Bowditch  was  born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  March 
26th,  1773,  being  a  descendant  of  a  respectable  ancestry,  who  were 
shipmasters  and  mechanics ;  and,  like  many  eminent  men  of  past  and 
present  time,  he  could  trace  his  progress  in  virtue  and  high  attain- 
ments, to  the  influence  of  his  mother,  a  strong-minded  and  exemplary 
woman,  who  exercised  a  most  salutary  effect  upon  the  mind  of  her 
son,  in  the  development  of  his  fine  traits  of  character  and  remarkable 
talents. 


THE   BOWDITCH   STATUE.  107 

The  early  youth  of  Dr.  Bowditch  was  one  of  struggle  and  self- 
denial.  Having  received  some  slight  elementary  instruction,  he  was 
taken  (at  the  age  of  ten  years)  to  labor  in  his  father's  shop  as  a 
cooper,  and  was  afterwards  transferred  to  a  ship-chandlery  establish- 
ment. In  1795,  at  the  age  of  twenty- two,  he  sailed  on  his  first  voy- 
age ;  and  was  thus  put  in  the  way  of  becoming  what  he  was  in  after 
years — a  practical  navigator,  and  a  profound  mathematician.  He 
was  extremely  fond  of  books,  and  spared  no  pains  to  avail  himself  of 
every  means  of  acquiring  information,  whether  relating  to  philosophy 
or  science.  When  not  able  to  purchase  such  books  as  he  desired,  he 
would  take  the  trouble  of  transcribing  their  contents  with  the  pen ; 
and  in  this  way  he  wrote  off  mathematical  and  other  papers  of  in- 
terest, to  the  extent  of  twenty  folio  and  quarto  common-place  books  and 
other  volumes.  These  have  now  become  the  most  valuable  relics  in 
the  library  of  the  venerable  departed ;  and  they  serve  as  examples  of 
industry  and  courage  to  his  gifted  children.  And  here  we  are  re- 
minded of  the  words  of  an  able  writer,  who  says  that  "patience  is 
necessary  in  all  things,  and  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  useful  and  es- 
timable qualities  of  life.  It  enables  us  to  bear,  without  shrinking,  the 
bitterest  evils  that  can  assail  us ;  whilst  without  patience,  philosophy 
would  never  have  made  those  wonderful  discoveries  that  subjugate 
nature  to  our  yoke." 

It  is  related  of  Dr.  Bowditch,  that  between  the  years  1795  and 
1804,  he  made  five  voyages,  beginning  the  first  voyage  in  the  capacity 
of  clerk,  and  in  the  last,  attaining  the  rank  both  of  master  and  super- 
cargo. During  his  voyages  he  perfected  a  knowledge  of  many  of  the 
modern  languages,  and  made  those  rapid  advances  in  mathematical 
calculations,  which  afterwards  so  peculiarly  distinguished  him. 


108  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

"On  the  28th  of  May,  1799,"  says  his  son,  in  a  preface  to  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch's  translation  of  the  "  Mecanique  Celeste,"  "  he  was  chosen  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Some  of  the  most 
valuable  and  interesting  papers  in  its  Transactions,  weiv  the  subsequent 
contributions  of  his  pen ;  and  the  presidency  of  the  society,  to  which 
In1  was  elected  in  May,  1829,  in  the  place  of  John  Quincy  Adanix  is 
one  of  the  highest  honors  which  science  offers  to  her  votaries  011  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic." 

One  of  the  greatest  works  of  the  life  and  energy  of  Dr.  Bowditch, 
was  the  preparation  of  "  Tlie  New  American  Practical  Navigator" — 
a  work  used  by  every  shipmaster  sailing  from  our  shores,  and  adopted, 
in  portions,  into  English  works,  to  the  same  valuable  end. 

In  1823,  Dr.  Bowditch  removed  from  Salem  to  Boston,  having  been 
for  many  years  President  of  the  Essex  Fire  and  Marine  Company, 
where  his  admirable  management  gained  for  the  institution  a  very 
large  surplus  of  profits.  His  various  scientific  papers  had  now 
amounted  to  a  valuable  accumulation.  His  astronomical  calculations 
were  of  the  greatest  nicety,  and  his  demonstrations  had  served  to 
correct  many  inaccuracies  in  other  writers.  But  the  most  important 
work  of  Dr.  Bowditch's  life,  was  his  translation  of  the  "  Mecanique 
Celeste"  of  La  Place — a  work  which  is  confessed  to  be  more  com- 
plete than  the  original ;  since  the  indefatigable  translator,  not  content 
with  an  adherence  to  the  text,  had  superadded  all  the  more  important 
modern  calculations,  making  it  to  embrace  a  complete  history  of  the 
state  of  the  science  at  the  time  of  its  publication.  A  higher  tribute 
to  the  great  value  of  a  work  could  not  be  given,  than  the  let- 
ters received  by  Dr.  Bowditch  from  the  most  eminent  scientific  men 
of  Europe,  all  attesting  to  the  perfection  and  importance  of  his  labors. 


THE  BOWDITCH  STATUE.  109 

Probably  few  men  living  had  refused  so  many  honors  of  place  and 
station,  as  Dr.  Bowditch.  Ardently  attached  to  his  native  town  of 
Salem,  and  being  certainly  one  of  its  greatest  benefactors,  he  declined 
an  appointment  as  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Harvard  University, 
as  well  as  a  similar  one  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  in  the 
Academy  at  West  Point.  Offices  in  Boston  were  also  offered  him ; 
but  he  could  not  be  brought  from  his  favorite  residence  until  the  abso- 
lute importance  of  his  acceptance  of  the  charge  of  the  Massachusetts 
Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  seemed  to  win  him  from  his 
favorite  home.  He  had  at  first  declined  this  appointment ;  but  the 
urgent  necessity  of  the  case  baffled  his  attachment  to  Salem,  and  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  yield  to  the  good  of  others.  A  public  festival  was 
given  in  his  honor  when  he  left  Salem  for  the  adjacent  city,  and  upon 
occasion  of  which,  the  most  touching  expressions  of  love  and  esteem 
were  bestowed  upon  him.  Amongst  others,  it  was  said  that,  as  "  he 
was  the  first  of  his  countrymen  in  the  walks  of  science,  so  he  was 
second  to  no  man  on  earth  for  purity  and  honor."  It  was  declared, 
also,  at  the  same  time,  that  "  as  the  monarchy  of  France  had  done 
honor  to  her  La  Place,  so  would  the  republic  of  America  not  be  un- 
grateful to  her  Bowditch" 

Dr.  Bowditch  was  a  person  of  rare  insight  into  character,  and  sin- 
gular magnanimity  of  disposition,  as  various  anecdotes  connected  with 
his  official  career  attest ;  whilst  his  great  precision  in  business  matters, 
made  him  a  model  of  honorable  imitation.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Young,  in 
his  eulogy,  has  said  of  Dr.  Bowditch,  that  "the  world  has  been  the 
happier  and  wiser  that  he  has  lived  in  it ;"  and  the  youth  of  our  land 
should  proudly  take  him  for  an  example.  How  much  of  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch's  excellence  of  character  and  kindly  regard  for  others,  proceeded 


110  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

from  his  constant  realization  that  he  was  an  "  accountable  agent,"  and 
must  one  day  be  called  to  "  give  an  account  of  his  stewardship,"  we 
do  not  pretend  to  say ;  but  it  is  evident  that  Faith  was  the  guiding- 
star  of  his  life,  and  "  brotherly  love"  one  of  the  best  attributes  of  his 
being. 

Dr.  Bowditch  died  on  the  16th  of  March,  1838.  One  of  the 
happiest  and  most  beautiful  tributes  to  his  memory,  is  recorded  in  the 
resolutions  adopted  by  the  Marine  Society  of  Salem,  upon  the  sad 
occasion  of  his  decease.  We  extract  the  passage,  as  follows : 

"  When  the  voice  of  eulogy  shall  be  still ;  when  the  tear  of  sorrow 
shall  cease  to  flow,  no  monument  shall  be  needed  to  keep  alive  his 
memory  among  men ; — but  as  long  as  ships  shall  sail,  the  needle  point 
to  the  north,  and  the  stars  go  through  their  wonted  courses  in  the 
heavens,  the  name  of  Dr.  Bowditch  will  be  revered  as  of  one  who 
helped  his  fellow-men  in  a  time  of  need ;  who  was  and  is  a  guide  to 
them  over  the  pathless  ocean ;  and  of  one  who  forwarded  the  great 
interests  of  mankind." 

The  monument  which  has  been  recently  placed  in  Mount  Auburn, 
is  the  first  bronze  statue  of  any  magnitude  executed  in  our  country, 
and  is  the  work  of  BALL  HUGHES,  an  English  artist  some  time  resi- 
dent in  the  United  States.  The  design  is  good,  and  the  likeness 
admirable ;  whilst  the  whole  figure  is  expressive  of  dignity,  benevo- 
lence, and  superior  thought.  The  drapery  is  well  arranged,  and  the 
sentiment  of  the  figure  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  character  of  the 
man.  It  is  an  enduring  memorial  of  one,  who,  though  he  needed  no 
monument  to  perpetuate  his  memory,  deserved  from  his  fellow-citizens 
a  proud  and  honorable  tribute. 

The  statue  has  been  erected  by  subscription,  and  placed  in  a  con- 


THE   BOWDITCH   STATUE.  Ill 

spicuous  position  amidst  the  wo'ody  foliage  of  Mount  Auburn.     In 
the  language  of  Mrs.  Sigourney, 

"  Then  let  this  haunt  be  sacred.     For  the  feet 
Of  strangers,  here,  in  future  days  shall  turn, 
As  to  some  Mecca  of  philosophy ; 
And  here  the  admiring  youth  shall  come  to  seek 
Some  relic  of  the  great  and  good — whose  fame 
Shall  gather  greenness  from  the  hand  of  Time." 


VIEW  FROM  MOUNT  AUBURN. 


"  And  here,  upon  this  self-same  spot,  ere  yet 
The  chilling  forma  of  cold  indifference, 
And  fears  of  dark  distrust,  had  worn  my  heart, 
And  dimm'd  the  brightness  of  my  youthful  thoughts — 
I've,  laid  me  down,  and  mused  for  long,  long  hours, 
Till  I  had  fill'd  the  scene  with  images 
And  airy  thoughts,  that  seem'd  to  live  and  breathe 
Amid  the  waving  plants  and  flowers  that  bloom'd 
On  every  side." 

[ANONYMOUS. 


THE  highest  eminence  of  the  cemetery  ground  is  denominated 
Mount  Auburn ;  and  from  this  elevation  the  view  has  been  drawn 
which  appears  in  the  present  work,  In  the  summer  season,  when  the 
thick  trees  have  put  on  their  full  array,  and  appear  in  all  their  beauty, 
the  panorama  is  nearly  lost  to  the  view  of  the  spectator ;  but  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year,  a  scene  is  presented  from  this  high  land,  which  is 
worthy  of  the  poet  or  the  painter.  Passing  from  the  main  avenue  of 
the  cemetery,  a  circuitous  road  leads  the  visiter  to  the  summit  of 
Mount  Auburn,  from  which,  in  perspective,  rise  the  numerous  spires  of 
the  near  city  of  Boston.  Still  nearer,  and  more  visible,  are  the  walls 
of  that  fostering  mother  of  learning  and  science,  the  venerable  Har- 
vard. The  quiet  dwellings  of  Cambridge  lie  scattered  over  the  fore- 
ground, while  Charles  River,  winding  through  the  valley  beneath,  rolls 
its  accumulated  waters  to  the  ocean. 


VIEW  FROM   MOUNT  AUBURN.  113 

It  is  a  favorable  position  from  which  to  gaze  downwards  upon  the 
formation  of  the  ground ;  upon  the  varied  undulations  of  the  hills  and 
dales,  the  tranquil  lakes,  and  the  deep  shadows  of  the  groves.  We 
look  down  upon  a  place  of  welcome  rest  for  the  world-weary,  and  the 
very  stillness  of  the  spot  acquires  a  peculiar  solemnity.  The  whisper 
of  the  pines  is  heard  around  it;  and  a  sweet  melody,  peaceful  and 
holy,  comes  upon  the  awakened  soul,  and  appeals  to  other  than  the 
mere  sense  of  sound.  It  seems  as  if  it  were,  indeed, 

"  the  very  voice  of  the  Lord  God, 


That  Adam  heard  walking  among  the  trees 
Of  his  own  garden,  in  the  cool  of  day." 


The  picturesque  chapel  of  the  cemetery,  seen  beyond,  and  the  tall 
spires  of  the  distant  churches,  arouse  the  spirit  of  devotion.  Beauti- 
ful repose  is  the  prevailing  feature  of  the  landscape.  The  traveller 
who  visits  Mount  Auburn  should  not  cease  his  wanderings  over  the 
grounds  until  he  has .  ascended  this  height,  and  marked  each  varied 
feature  in  his  mind's  tablet.  We  may  well  gain  a  lesson  from  nature 
amid  such  scenes  of  tranquil  beauty,  and  learn  to  conform  our  lives  to 
the  order  of  her  works,  in  view  both  of  the  present  and  the  future. 

15 


THE  CONCLUSION. 


:  What  IB  life  ?     A  little  journey, 

Ending  ere  'tis  well  begun  ; 
'Tis  a  gay,  disastrous  tourney, 

Where  a  mingled  tilt  is  run  ; 
And  the  head  that  wears  a  crown 

'Neath  the  meanest  lance  goes  down. 
Walk,  then,  on  life's  pathway,  mortal ! 

With  a  pure  and  steadfast  heart  ; 
So  that,  through  death's  frowning  portal, 

Peacefully  thou  mayst  depart." 


IN  the  comments  made  in  the  foregoing  pages  upon  some  of  the 
more  gifted  individuals,  whose  bodies  lie  interred  in  Mount  Auburn. 
we  feel  that  we  have  spoken  of  those  whose  genius  has  not  rested 
upon  dubious  testimony.  We  have  spoken  of  STORY,  CHANNING, 
BOWDITCH,  and  other  cotemporary  minds,  whose  vigorous  intellectual 
energies  have  gained  for  them  an  enduring  name.  As  Hartley  Cole- 
ridge said  of  the  immortal  Newton,  "his  body  is  in  the  grave;  his 
soul  is  with  his  Father  above ;  but  his  mind  is  with  us  still" — so  it  is 
with  some  of  the  monarchs  of  the  mind,  who  have  returned  to  their 
kindred  dust  amidst  these  venerable  shades;  and  "hence  it  is  we  per- 
ceive the  superiority  of  intellect  to  all  other  gifts  of  earth,  and  its 
rightful  subordination  to  the  grace  which  is  of  heaven.  All  but  the 
mind  either  perishes  in  time,  or  vanishes  out  of  time  into  eternity. 
Mind  alone  lives  on  with  time,  and  keeps  pace  with  the  march  of 
ages." 


THE   CONCLUSION.  115 

±mt  there  are  others  whose  remains  lie  within  the  precincts  of 
Mount  Auburn,  with  whose  fame  the  reader  is  familiar,  though  in  re- 
gard to  whom,  the  necessary  curtailment  of  these  pages  will  not  permit 
us  space  to  render  justice.  We  might  speak  of  BUCKMINSTER,  who 
perished  in  his  prime,  full  of  all  faculties  and  all  studies,  and  who  has 
eloquently  been  called,  by  one  of  his  professional  brethren,  "  a  youthful 
marvel — the  hope  of  the  church,  the  oracle  of  divinity;"  or  of  one 
who  lived  to  "  a  good  old  age,"  and  died  full  of  years  and  knowledge 
— the  late  venerable  JOHN  DAVIS — an  upright  judge  and  a  wise  coun- 
sellor, of  whom  it  has  been  said,  in  a  eulogy  replete  with  glowing 
truth,  that  he  "merited  the  title  of  a  Christian  philosopher.  Over  his 
old  age  philosophy  and  religion  shed  their  mingled  light,  and  poured 
their  soft  glories  around  his  head:" — Of  AMOS  BINNEY,  who  died 
recently  in  a  foreign  land,  and  whose  remains  have  been  buried  in 
Mount  Auburn,  by  the  side  of  the  parents  whom  he  loved.  For  him 
the  wonders  of  nature  had  a  deep  and  abiding  interest,  and  in  him  the 
natural  sciences  possessed  a  devoted  friend.  He  was  taken  away  in 
the  midst  of  life,  and  youth,  and  love,  when  the  pursuit  of  wisdom  was 
his  fascination  ;  when  the  world  was  sweet,  and  the  "journey  had  been 
too  short  for  the  limbs  to  grow  weary."  He  breathed  his  last  in  a 
strange  land — the  fair  clime  of  Italy ;  but  if  his  latest  prayer  was  like 
that  of  the  aged  patriarch,  "bury  me  not  in  Egypt;  but  I  will  lie  with 
my  fathers ;  thou  shalt  carry  me  out  of  Egypt,  and  bury  me  in  their 
burying-place,"  his  wish  has  been  fully  gratified.  A  classic  monument, 
designed  and  executed  by  that  distinguished  artist,  Crawford,  will 
shortly  be  placed  over  his  grave,  and  the  hand  of  affection  will  then 
have  paid  the  last  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  scholar  and  a  good  man. 

We   might   speak    also  of  HENRY   OXNARD,    an   enterprising  sea- 


116  MOUNT  AUBURN   ILLUSTRATED. 

captain,  who  relinquished  his  early  pursuits,  in  which  he  had  gained 
an  honorable  name,  for  mercantile  life  and  a  permanent  home  in  Bos- 
ton. With  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  came  the  opportunities  for 
active  benevolence ;  .but  with  these,  finally,  physical  decay  and  death. 
He  was  a  valuable  citizen  and  a  kind  friend — one  to  love  for  his 
warmth  of  heart,  and  to  imitate  for  his  honorable  enterprise.  It  is  to 
his  memory  that  the  beautiful  Gothic  monument,  of  which  the  engra- 
ving in  this  work  gives  so  faithful  a  delineation,  has  been  erected. 

Military  as  well  as  civil  history  is  brought  back  with  our  reminis- 
cences of  Mount  Auburn,  as  we  tread  over  the  graves  of  General 
William  Hull,  of  Captain  Abraham  Hull,  or  of  that  long-lived  veteran, 
Captain  Josiah  Cleaveland,  to  whose  memory  the  citizens  of  Boston 
have  recently  erected  a  monumental  tablet,  and  of  whose  remarkable 
life  the  following  memorial  has  been  recorded : — 

"He  was  born  at  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  December  3,  1753;  he 
died  at  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  June  30, 1843.  He  was  an  officer 
of  the  army  of  freedom.  He  served  his  country  bravely  and  faithfully 
through  the  whole  war  of  the  revolution.  He  fought  her  battles  at 
Bunker-hill,  Harlem  Heights,  White  Plains,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Mon- 
mouth,  and  Yorktown.  He  sustained  an  unblemished  reputation,  and 
lived  in  the  practice  of  every  Christian  virtue.  He  loved,  served,  and 
feared  God.  In  the  ninetieth  year  of  his  age,  he  journeyed  nearly 
five  hundred  miles  from  his  home,  to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of 
the  completion  of  the  monument  on  Bunker-hill.  He  lived  to  witness 
that  memorable  spectacle ;  he  was  satisfied ;  he  laid  down  quietly  and 
yielded  up  his  breath,  near  the  scene  of  his  first  conflict  with  the  ene- 
mies of  his  country.  He  came  among  strangers;  he  died  among 
friends." 


te 


THE   CONCLUSION.  117 

In  the  course  of  this  work,  we  have  two  engravings  representing 
monuments  to  ELIJAH  LORING,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  and  J.  H.  GOSSLER, 
Esq.,  of  Germany, — the  former  a  successful  merchant,  honorable,  up- 
right, and  well-esteemed ;  and  the  latter  an  enterprising  and  respecta- 
ble young  foreigner,  who  sought  his  fortune  far  from  his  own  home,  in 
a  land  in  which  he  gained  many  friends,  and  where  his  memory  is  yet 
honored  with  many  happy  recollections.  The  forest  scenery  around 
these  picturesque  spots  of  sepulture  is  peculiarly  beautiful,  and  the 
memorials  themselves  evince  taste  in  design,  and  skill  in  execution. 

But  space  fails  us  to  continue  even  these  brief  obituaries,  and,  in- 
deed, for  the  mention  of  many  others  among  the  gifted  and  beautiful 
of  the  earth,  male  and  female,  over  whom  the  angel  Azrael  waved  his 
wings,  and  "  wooed  them  out  of  being,"  whilst  in  the  apparent  exer- 
cise of  health  and  strength. 

In  the  previous  remarks  in  relation  to  Mount  Auburn,  and  some  of 
the  most  illustrious  of  its  buried  dead,  we  have  been  obliged  to  omit 
many  sketches  of  individual  character,  which  might  have  been  both 
interesting  and  instructive.  Several  of  the  most  enticing  spots, 
marked,  too,  by  monuments  of  beauty,  are  owned  by  those  who  are 
yet  amongst  us,  buoyant  with  life  and  energy,  and  of  whom  to  speak 
here  in  lengthened  tribute,  how  much  soever  they  might  deserve  our 
eulogy,  would  be  inappropriate  and  premature. 

Mount  Auburn  has  become  a  spot  upon  which  all  hearts  unite  in 
harmony  of  purpose,  and  from  which  the  best  aspirations  of  the  soul 
arise  like  clouds  of  incense  towards  heaven.  It  is  adorned  by  nature, 
and  has  been  improved  by  art.  It  has  become  a  sanctified  sepulchre, 
worthy  of  Christianity,  and  of  a  refined  and  intellectual  people.  In 
the  language  of  the  lamented  Story,  here,  then,  "  let  us  erect  the  me- 


118  MOUNT  AUBURN  ILLUSTRATED. 

morials  of  our  love,  our  gratitude,  and  our  glory.  Here  let  the  brave 
repose,  who  have  died  in  the  cause  of  their  country.  Here  let  the 
statesman  rest,  who  has  achieved  the  victories  of  peace,  not  less  re- 
nowned than  war.  Here  let  genius  find  a  home,  that  lias  sung  immor- 
tal strains,  or  has  instructed  with  still  diviner  eloquence.'  Here  let 
learning  and  science,  the  votaries  of  inventive  art.  and  the  teacher  of 
the  philosophy  of  nature,  come.  Here  let  youth  and  beauty,  blighted 
by  premature  d«iea\.  drop,  like  tender  blossoms,  into  the  virgin  earth; 
and  here  let  age  retire,  ripened  for  the  harvest.  Above  all,1  here  let 
the  benefactors  of  mankind,  the -good,  the  merciful,  the  meek,  the  pure 
in  heart,  be  congregated  ;  for  to  them  belongs  an  undying  praise.  And 
let  us  take  comfort,  nay,  let  us  rejoice,  that  in  future  ages,  long  after 
we  are  gathered  to  the  generations  of  other  days,  thousands  of  kind- 
ling hearts  will  here  repeat  the  sublime  declarations,  'Blessed  are  the 
dead  who  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they  rest  from  their  labors;  and  their 
works  do  follow  them.' " 

Extending  the . possible  advantages  of  such;  places  of  sepulture  yet 
farther,  we  'may  i>e  permitted  to  quote,  an  English  writer — the  editor 
of  "Chambers'  Journal''— who.  in  a  description  of  the  celebrated 
cropolis  at  Gla^ow.  asks.  ••  Can  we  but  wonder  that  cemeteries  of 
this  kind  should  be  rare,  when  we  think  in  what  a  different  position 
we  are  placed  by  them,  with  respect  to  departed  friends  ?  As  funeral 
matters  an-  iiMially  ordered,-  we  .seem  to  part  forever  from  those  we 
have  loved  and  lost.  We  consign  them  to  the  cold,  dark,  and  imtcnded 
ground;  the  place  of  their  rest  is  locked  up  from  our  si^ht,  or  trodden 
only  by  strangers ;  and  ere  long,  'the  lank  grass,  the  nettle,  and  the 
rank  weed,  choke  up  their  unvisited  graves.  How  different  is  it  with 
such  cemeteries  as  Pere  la  Chaise !  When  we  lay  down  a  loved  one 


fc 


THE   CONCLUSION.  119 

there,  we  can  still  hold  sweet  communion  with  him.  We  can  show 
our  affection  by  planting  the  loveliest  flowers  of  summer  above  his 
head,  and  please  ourselves  with  the  belief  that  the  tribute  is  not  un')e- 
held  nor  unappreciated.  We  can  pull  a  flower  from  the  place  of  his 
repose,  and  carry  it  about  with  us,  gratified  with  the  thought,  that  if 
we  cannot  have  our  friend  again,  we  have  something,  at  least,  that  has 
sprung  up  from  his  dust.  The  place  of  death  is  no  longer,  in  our 
eyes,  a  place  of  gloom,  desertion,  and  sorrow,  at  the  bare  idea  of 
which  we  shudder  with  horror  and  dismay.  It  is  an  agreeable  resting- 
spot,  to  which  we  retire  at  the  close  of  life,  still  to  be  'visited,  and 
gazed  on,  and  cared  for,  by  those  we  hold  dear.  Such  is  the  change 
in  our  feelings  on  this  subject,  which  these  beautiful  cemeteries  arc 
calculated  to  effect ;  and  assuredly  it  is  a  change  adapted  neither  to 
make  us  worse  men  nor  less  happy." 


"  Plant  not  the  cypress,  nor  yet  the  yew, 
Too  heavy  their  shadow,  too  gloomy  their  hue, 
For  one  who  is  sleeping  in  faith  and  love, 
With  a  hope  that  is  treasured  in  heaven  above  ; 
In  a  holy  trust  are  my  ashes  laid — 
Cast  ye  no  darkness,  throw  ye  no  shade. 

"  Plant  the  green  sod  with  the  crimson  rose  ; 
Let  my  friends  rejoice  o'er  my  calm  repose ; 
Let  my  memory  be  like  the  odors  shed, 
My  hope  like  the  promise  of  early  red  ; 
Let  strangers  share  in  their  breath  and  bloom- 
Plant  ye  bright  roses  over  my  tomb !" 


LIST   OF  PLATES, 


MAP,  ---------.__         (to  face  vignette.) 

VIEW  OF  THE  PILGRIM  PATH, PAGB     10 

"        "        BINNEY  MONUMENT, 21 

NAVAL  MONUMENT,  (Central  Avenue,)        ------  23 

"       CHAPEL, 36 

"         "       TOMB  TO  SPURZHEIM,  --.....  40 

"        "        LOWELL  MONUMENT,  ......        44 

"         "        CENTRAL  SQUARE,        ---.-..._.  QQ 

"        "        HARVARD  HILL, .....07 

"        "       APPLETON  MONUMENT,         --.-.....  77 

"         "        MONUMENT  TO  CHANNING,         ---.-.-.-85 
"        "       FOREST  POND,    -  ......  94 

"        "       CONSECRATION  DELL,      -  --..-...       101 

"        "       BOWDITCH  MONUMENT,  --..-..          105 

VIEW  FROM  MOUNT  AUBURN,  -        - 112 

VIEW  OF  OXNARD'S  MONUMENT,  -        -        -        -        -        -        _        .          115 

"       GOBBLER'S       "  ---..-....117 

"       LORING'S  .......  us 

PATTERNS  OF  RAILINGS,       ----..__...  120 


•HI 


MSSKB-NS  FOIL  MOIfUMEI^TAIL 


Dee.  JtDrawnTijIWoelcksrs,  iicJi'-  Bostm . 


